World Under 20 400m bronze medalist Sylvia Chelangat believes she is yet to achieve top fitness despite leading Team Kenya to gold in the 4x400m relay at the East Africa Under18 and Under 20 Championships on Saturday.
The junior has been sitting her KCSE exams and believes this has hampered her training but is now raring to go now that she is done with her secondary school education.
"I want to go back to training to ensure I am fully fit for Cali, Colombia in August. I am now free after my exams and I want to regain my full fitness," Chelangat said.
She was part of a victorious team, which finished second on the medal standings after harvesting five gold medals, 10 silver and three bronze at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
After clinching gold in the men's 100m and 400m respectively, Joseph Lemkoina and Elkana Kiprotich teamed up alongside Peter Kithome and Amos Langat to earn another gold in the men's 4x400m relay.
Both youngsters described the event as the right platform to prepare for the World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Colombia and to understudy national 100m record holder, Ferdinand Omanyala.
In the ladies' 3000m, Marion Chepngetich finished second as Naomi Cheptoo (5000m), Teresa Kabui (1500m) and Chelangat (400m and 200m) also grabbed silver in their respective races.
Chepngetich believes she could have performed even better but for the harsh weather conditions.
"The weather was too harsh. At some point my legs could hardly move. However, I thank God for settling for silver,” she said.
The youngster also collected silver in the 800m and 3000m.
In the women’s Under-18, Judy Kemunto won gold in the 400m.
Langat won silver in the boys under-18, clocking 8:20.38 in the 3000m behind Ethiopia’s Yabiltal Gashahun, who took gold in 18:19.48.
