Kenyan sprinters eyeing Olympic qualification at World Relays

Kenyan sprinters eyeing Olympic qualification at World Relays

Chief athletics writer

Kenyan teams will be eyeing to seal Olympic tickets at the World Relays Championships slated for Silesia, Poland from May 1-2.

The Kenyan contingent for the global showpiece is set to depart Tuesday evening.

After two months of rigorous training at Kasarani, team manager Kennedy Tanui is confident the sprinters are ready to bag medals at the biennial event.

“We have been in camp since February 26 and I want to assure Kenyans that this is the best team ever assembled for World Relays. We expect very good performances despite the fact that we operated in the backdrop of a pandemic,” said Tanui.

Similarly, Tanui said a lot is at stake for Team Kenya as they will be looking to hit qualifying standards for the Olympics in the 4x400m men and women relay and 4x400m mixed relay.

“We have a formidable team in the 4x400m for both men and women and will be trying to qualify for the Olympics. If we manage a top-eight finish in the finals, we are assured of a slot to Tokyo Games, same as in the 4x400m mixed relay,” he explained.

Tanui also revealed that Kenya is already in the medal bracket in the shuttle hurdles relay as they will only face hosts Poland and Germany in the event following the withdrawal of Jamaica.

While Kenya bagged only a bronze medal at the 2019 championships held in Japan, Tanui noted massive improvements from the squad.

“We have had robust training on button exchange which has been our greatest undoing. We have also polished our skills on the 4x200m race which is somehow technical and also the shuttle relay which we have also perfected,” said Tanui who doubles as Athletics Kenya (AK) Central Rift secretary.

Kenya will field teams in 4x200m and 4x400m relay men and women, 4x400m mixed relay, 2x2x400m mixed relay and shuttle hurdles relays.

Tags:

olympics Poland team kenya Silesia World Relays Kenya sprinters

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