Kenyan walkers qualify for Doha World Championships

Kenyans won two more gold medals in the men’s and women’s walk race to take the total tally to four gold medals, three silver and four bronze as the athletics program entered the third day yesterday. 

It was a double joy for Kenyan race walkers as they also qualified for the next month’s World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Samuel Gathimba clocked 1:22:50 to win the men’s walk title ahead of Ethiopian Wale Yahani’s (1:22:50) and South Africa’s Snyman Wayne who returned 1:23:38.

Another Kenyan Simon Wachira placed fourth in. 1:23:38.

For Gathimba, the result was an improvement from the second place he posted at the last event in Congo Brazzaville. Kenya’s Emily Ngii Wamusyi won the women’s gold in 1:34.41 to hand Kenya another gold as Grace Wanjiru took silver in 1:34:57. Ethiopian Yehualeye Mitiku settled for bronze in 1:35:21.

In an interview, Ngii said her training in the hilly Ngong area came in handy during this event.She said the course was hilly and thanks to her training in the hilly Ngong area, she was able to cope with the leaders.

She said the Ethiopian Mitiku really pushed them to the limit especially in the first five kilometres but she is happy that she prevailed. “Whoever had no stamina in the opening kilometres was forced to drop. Thanks to my training, I kept going,” From here, Ngii said she intends to take her training to the next level as she gets ready for the World Championships in Doha.

“There is no time to relax as Doha is just around the corner,” she added. She said she expects Doha to be tougher in terms of the weather but promised to train in high humidity and hilly area prior to Qatar competition.

Her sentiments were shared by second-placed Wanjiru who said they will have to re-strategize for the global event.

“If what the Ethiopians have displayed here is anything to go by, we must brace up for even tougher times ahead,” she added. She said her best time of 1:33 was set here in Morocco when she finished second to Wanjiru during the African Championships in Marrakech. Like Ngii, Wanjiru who was the defending champion said she wants to up her training to measure up to global standards.

“We will have to train from 2 pm when the sun is up if we are to counter the weather challenges in Doha. For Rabat, we were training between 9 and 11 am and I am happy this paid off, “ she added. 

Wanjiru said the Ethiopian was a big threat but too many warnings forced the organizers to drop her to bronze medal.Gathimba also decried the hilly course saying they didn’t expect that.

He said his training partner Wachira would have also made it to the medal bracket but had a problem with his leg.

All the same, he noted that they are going back to training in Nyeri and like their women counterparts, they will train from mid-day to cope with the harsh weather conditions in Doha. 

“We have no time to waste and from here we head back into serious training, “ he added.

He said their only challenge is having a walk race coach who can stick with them both in training and during competition. “ We have never had a coach who can identify with us. All we do is to rely on the mid and long coaches. If this situation can change, I am sure we can push ourselves to the next level,” he noted.