For Sawe, a good result is not enough, the record must fall too, so he says

Efforts to break the five-year-old national high jump record will motivate Africa High Jump champion Mathew Sawe to register good results in the forthcoming 21st edition of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

The 27-year Old Sawe twice failed to make it to team Kenya for international events; missing the 2016 Olympic Games and last year’s World Athletics Championship in London.

However, this time round he’s targeting the 2:30m mark, and maintains he’s fired up for the challenge.

“I have mainly focused in areas that I have not been doing well in. For instance, I need more power in take off, that’s the major area of weakness,” Sawe told Citizen Digital.

He added: “I missed the Olympics and the World Championship because Kenya is an A category, and my current mark of 2:25m lies in the B category. I have been disappointed twice but now I’m ready for Gold Coast.”

Sawe heads to the April 4 -15 Games high in expectations, and says failure to get the proper training gear has not dampened his spirits.

In fact, for Sawe, it will be second time attempt after appearing at the 2014 event in Glasgow, Scotland.

“In 2014 a knee Injury hampered my efforts to finish in the medal bracket but this time I am fully fit and missing the world championship is behind me.”

“I know the Commonwealth is totally different from the Africa Championship but it’s a matter of being psychologically ready,”  Sawe concluded.

Mathew Sawe made history by becoming the first Kenyan to win gold in high jump, when he cleared 2.21m on day three of the Africa Championships, in Durban, South Africa in 2015.