Panuel Mkungo believes records will count for nothing when he lines up in the half marathon in the streets of Accra on Friday morning.
Despite being the only Kenyan in the men’s race, Mkungo is keen on the gold medal.
“I feel physically fit and I will try my level best to win gold for my country,” he noted. Mkungo finished fourth during the 2019 edition in Rabat, Morocco, and hopes to build on that.
“In Rabat, I was still young and did not know how to strategise. Things are different this time round and I know what I want in life,” he added.
Mkungo, from Taita-Taveta County, has been training in Kapsabet under coach Saidi Aziz and believes he is ready for glory.
He has tried to acclimatise to the weather for the past week and doesn’t believe it will give him problems.
Ethiopians, Ugandans, Moroccans and South Africans are his biggest threats but vowed to take them head-on.
“I don’t believe in big names. I am my own man and that moment will count for us all. I believe athletes who will execute their race properly will carry the day,” he noted.
Mkungo ran a couple of events last year, which prepared him well for Friday’s assignment.
He was a pacemaker in last October’s Chicago Marathon and can work under pressure. He also won the Grandma’s Marathon in the USA in June 2023, clocking 2:10:20, and the Istanbul Marathon in November in 2:10:35.
In the half marathon, he has a personal best of 1:01:39 from Maratonina Città di Arezzo, Arezzo, Italy, in 2021.
Mkungo is on a mission to fly the country’s flag high and nothing will stop him.
“I will run this race like I have never run before. Only those who are well prepared will be able to keep up with me,” he bragged.
Mkungo will use the Accra race as a build-up for the Daegu Marathon on April 7.
“ I want to use this race to test my strength ahead of Daegu. I will fight until the finish,” he said.
