Its gold or nothing, Kenyan athletes declare ahead of Thursdays race finals

Former World champion Nicholas Bett will lead his twin brother Aaron Koech in search of a second global title on Thursday after tasting top honours  two years ago in Beijing, China in the men’s 400m hurdles.

Bett who holds a world leading time of 48.88 seconds told Citizen Digital that he is confident of a good performance at the finals in the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

The Kenya Police Service officer who prior to the Games trained in South Africa is confident that his training regime has done him a lot of good and as such is raring to go.

“Now that I’ve have qualified for the finals I need to put a lot of effort. I ask God to guide me because I haven’t run very well in the last two years due to injuries,” he said. “Now I’m free of any worries.

“The speed is there and techniques are not that bad,” said Bett, the 2015 Beijing World champion after topping heat three in 49.24 seconds.

His twin brother qualified as the fastest loser in the second heat in 49.28 to set a new personal best.

Koech said that he believes that this time round he will have a podium finish after missing out during the Rio 2016 Olympics Games and at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London.

On the other hand, William Mbevi bade the competitions an early farewell after ranking sixth in the first heat with a time of 50.92.

Also worth looking forward to on Thursday’s rich menu is the final of the men’s 800m where Wycliffe Kinyamal and Jonathan Komen will be hunting for the coveted title in a bid to maintain Kenya’s dominance.

“The first heat was very competitive that is why I started my campaign for the final early in the race. They have really chased me but I kept a strong lead at the front. I ask God for divine intervention in the final because my back is hurting really bad.

“My back locked for the whole of last week after I suffered hamstring injury. With 300m remaining my legs started loosening up and picked the pace a little bit,” said Kimanyal, lifting the lid on the pain and endurance he put up to qualify for the final.

Kimanyal fought tooth and nail to qualify in 1:45.56 while Kitilit stopped the timer in 1:47.27. The duo will have to be on the lookout of defending champion Nigel Amos of Botswana who topped the second heat in 1:45.12 on Tuesday.

Kenya will not have any representative in the women’s 400m hurdles after Maureen Jelagat finished sixth in 57.66.

“Kitilit Kinyamal and I are going to plan how we are going to deliver a gold medal for our country, nothing less than that. We are going to fight hard for that gold.”