Lilian Odira at the Tokyo World Championships/ FILEWorld 800m champion Lilian Odira is already plotting a dominant 2026 campaign. It has set her sights firmly on the Commonwealth Games crown and the inaugural World Ultimate Championships title after her electrifying triumph in Tokyo.
Odira shocked pre-race favourites in Tokyo to storm to world glory in just her maiden appearance on the global stage, clocking a championship record of 1:54.62. She out-kicked Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell (1:54.90) and Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson (1:54.91).
With the world title already glittering in her growing trophy cabinet, Odira has swiftly shifted focus to next year’s showpieces.
The Commonwealth Games will run from July 23 to August 2 in Glasgow, Scotland, before the much-anticipated World Ultimate Championships unfold from September 11 to 13 in Budapest, Hungary.
Speaking on Citizen TV’s Sporty Monday show, the 26-year-old made her ambitions clear. “The main target is to make my debut at the Commonwealth Games, where the aim is to be on the podium, and at the Ultimate Championships, I would like to win the title.”
Odira revealed that she will return to the drawing board alongside her coach, Jacinta Muraguri, to map out what promises to be an explosive 2026 season.
“We will sit down with the coach and strategise for next year,” she said.
Muraguri confirmed the plan, noting the pair will take a short break before embarking on intense preparations.
“We are going to have a three to four week rest period, then begin building up for the next major championship, which is the Commonwealth Games in Scotland,” Muraguri said.
With the world crown secured, Muraguri believes the sky is the limit for Odira. “Now that we have the World Championship gold in the bag, our main aim is nothing less than gold in coming competitions,” she declared.
For Odira, even making the Tokyo final was a significant milestone after the heartbreak of the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she failed to advance past the semi-finals, clocking 1:58.20 for fourth in her heat.
“When I made it to the finals in Tokyo, that was the best feeling of my life because last year I was at the Olympics and didn’t make the finals. So this was an extra mile of achievement in my career,” she reflected. In Tokyo, however, the weight of expectation was heavy.
“When I was preparing for the finals in the call room, I had a lot of pressure because I had the fastest qualifying time from the semis and heats."
"I think all eyes were on me, but I took it normally and decided to run my own race.”
Odira had laid down the gauntlet early, registering the fastest times in both the heats (1:57.86) and semi-finals (1:56.85), stamping herself as the woman to beat in the finals. Lining up against big names made the occasion all the more daunting.
“The pressure was there because all the big names were in the field— the likes of Keely, the Olympic champion and Moraa, the defending world champion,” she said.
One source of inspiration came from 2015 world javelin champion Julius Yego, whose pep talk proved decisive. “We talked with Yego before the heats, and he assured me I was capable of going for a medal. In fact, he was so confident I would get the gold,” Odira revealed.
