“ I believe we need a month-long training camp, where we bring all the swimmers together. It is not enough for swimmers to fly in from Italy, South Africa and the United Kingdom a week before the championship," he said.
He added, "We needed to create a bond between the swimmers before the Romania trip because the entire team didn't have enough time to gel. So going forward, we must have month-long camps to help us in subsequent championships and foster a spirit of unity," Otieno noted.
Otieno said a good number of the swimmers who graced the championship have declared their interest in taking part in the World Junior Championship in 2027 in Budapest, Hungary.
“The swimmers are excited about the next World Championship. Remember, this was our first event at the global stage as Kenya, and our swimmers picked up key lessons which will be implemented in the next two years,” he added.
Otieno singled out South Africa-based Neo Olengo, Nathan Matimu, Johari Masinde, alongside Igbal Bayusuf for their performances despite not making the finals of their respective races.
"The quartet showed a lot of promise, and with further development with their coaches and international events, we can see improved performances,” said Otieno. Kenya Aquatics technical director, Omar Omari, said they hope to introduce a robust talent identification program and expressed confidence that it would unearth more swimming talent in the near future.
"We are coming with a database of the country's top junior swimmers to complement the ones we have, and I expect our performances in future championships to be better,” added Omari.
He observed that a good number of the swimmers who featured in Romania are being groomed for the next two cycles of the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 or Brisbane 2032.
