Athletics Kenya relay series kicks off in Nairobi

The Athletics Kenya (AK) relay series kicked off on Saturday at the Nyayo National Stadium with three other legs lined up ahead of the World Relay Championships slated for May 1-2 in Silesia, Poland.

The meetings will culminate in national trials at the end of March when a team that will represent Kenya at the global championship will be selected.

The second and third legs are scheduled for January 23 and February 6.

According to AK vice president Paul Mutwii, Nyayo will host all the meetings due to Covid-19 restrictions and will be open to all sprinters as well as 800m athletes.

“We have decided to have all our (relay) meetings in Nyayo since most of our sprinters are based in Nairobi which will thus reduce unnecessary movements. We are also wary of the Covid-19 rules and we think Nyayo will be a good venue as we have hosted successful events recently,” Mutwii told Citizen Digital.

He added, “At the moment we can’t say the number of athletes who we expect but we urge all those who are interested to take part in the meetings.”

With six events lined up at the global event, Mutwii said selection of team Kenya will be based on the qualification standards.

The 4 x100m, 4 x200m, 4x 400m, 4x400m Mixed relays, 2x2x400m and Shuttle Relays are the events that will feature in Poland.

Mutwii further disclosed that eight events are lined up for Saturday; 150m,300m, 500m, 100m hurdles, 1,000m, 1,600m, 4x 200m Relay and 4 x 400m Mixed relay.

Kenya won a bronze medal in mixed relay at the 2019 World Relay Championships that were held in Yokohama, Japan.