More Kenyan sprinters may soon follow the path of national 100m record holder Ferdinand Omanyala if plans for a talent development programme by Athletics Kenya and the French city of Miramas takes off.
Making the revelation, AK's director of youth development, Barnaba Korir, said the collaboration would allow junior sprinters to train at Miramas Stadium in preparation for the World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.
"I was in France recently and I had a chance to meet the mayor of Miramas and the president of Miramas Athletics Club. Their idea was to have young Kenyan athletes, especially those preparing for World Under 20 in Cali, train there. It is very good...they have very good facilities for track and field events as well as middle distance," Korir said.
The plan also involves the selected sprinters competing at local championships to test themselves in a bid to meet the qualifying time for the August showpiece in Latin America.
"They also have competitions in early May and the athletes selected to train there will have the chance to compete in search of qualifying standards for Cali. Most of the junior sprinters are yet met the qualifying time. We have instructed our coaches to use the track and field weekend meetings to pick probables for Cali to involve them in this engagement," he said.
"We also asked them through, AK president Jackson Tuwei, if the athletes can be accompanied by at least three coaches — who can also be trained and in turn share this knowledge with their colleagues back at home."
Although most of the beneficiaries would be under 20 athletes, Korir did not rule out the possibility of Omanyala also training in Miramas if it suits his programme.
"The federation will meet when we get the proposal on Wednesday. It covers what they are going to do for our athletes. The president will then sit with his executive committee to explore the viability of the programme," Korir said.
He described the proposed programme as a potential game-changer that comes at the perfect time considering the heightened interest in sprints in the country.
"Since Omanyala's exemplary displays last year, there has been so much interest in sprints. At the first leg of the weekend meeting, we had 19 heats in the 100m race as was the same case in Kisumu (second leg). We want to capitalise on that because if we have as many sprinters competing, then there's a chance for us to get some medals from these races," Korir, also the Nairobi AK region chair, said.
In the long-term, he hopes that Team Kenya will be able to camp in the province of Marseille ahead of the Paris Olympics in 2024.
