Athletics Kenya are hopeful of qualifying more sprinters and field event athletes when the World Under 20 trials go down at Nyayo Stadium this morning.
The country will use the two-day event to select a team to the World Under 20 Championships to be held in Cali, Colombia between August 1 and 6.
Kenya are the defending champions from the past two editions and head coach Robert Ngisirei said they will seek to have more sprinters on the plane to diversify their medal chances.
At the moment, only 400m hurdlers — Peter Kithome and Alocoius Kipngetich — have clocked the required time for the junior show and Ngisirei is crossing his fingers as they seek to embolden the 24-man team they sent to Tampere, Finland four years ago.
"By the end of the trials, we hope to have more qualifiers on board, especially in the 100m and 200m races," Ngisirei said.
"So far we only have two qualifiers in the men's 400m hurles, Peter Kithome and Alocious Kipng'etich. In the 400m women's race, we only have one probable and we hope to have more qualify during the trials."
However, the veteran coach noted that they have 'more than necessary' qualified athletes in distances between 800m and 5,000m.
"In the 800m race all the way to the 5,000m, we have more than the necessary number of qualifiers," he revealed, adding that they will also forego the hammer throw and pole vault jump.
During a press briefing at Riadha House, federation head Jackson Tuwei revelead that only the top athlete in each of the finals will be in the plane to Cali, provided they have the necessary requirements.
These include age, anti-doping, qualifying standards as well as possession of identification documents.
A second athlete, who has met the required standards, could also be in the team, upon verification by a selection panel, he added.
