Eldoret's Kipchoge Keino Stadium has passed the suitability test to host next month's national trials ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games set for June 17-19.
Athletics Kenya (AK) president Jack Tuwei led other officials including technical advisor Ibrahim Hussein, Team Kenya general team manager Barnabas Korir and vice president Paul Mutwii on a fact-finding tour of the stadium.
He, however, said the final decision will be made after accessing other venues around the country.
“We discussed the events of this year and the Olympics was the main agenda. You cannot take athletes to the Olympics without trials. We considered this a suitable place as we did in 2016 for the Rio Olympics. During the 2016 trials, people were happy; so we wanted to give another chance for Eldoret locals to enjoy both locally and internationally. And this is the reason we are here to see the suitability of the facility on the ground,” Tuwei said.
The president said the venue selected to host the trials must take into account the needs of all athletes and not only the runners.
“The track is not bad and it can be used for the championships but of course we don’t look at the track alone. There are a few other issues that we look at. We have gone through the areas of interests like the field and track including the javelin, hammer, discus, changing rooms among others. We have also visited the warm-up areas and taken notes; this team has diverse knowledge,” he said.
Tuwei said AK are liaising with Olympics Kenya on the preparations of Team Kenya as far as athletics is concerned.
The final decision on the venue for the trials will be made on Monday or Tuesday after extensive analysis and consultations.
Hussein lauded the federation for the seriousness with which they have approached the preparations for the trials.
“As a technical advisor, I want to say that the track is not bad and we have gone all round to see the other areas before making the decision."
