Walkers Wanyonyi, Ndigiti to renew rivalry at Nyayo this weekend

Former world under 20 10,000m race walk champion Heristone Wanyonyi and Dominic Ndigiti will renew their rivalry at the Athletics Kenya weekend meeting at the Nyayo Stadium.

Wanyonyi beat Ndigiti at the Kisumu leg of the AK series a fortnight ago. Wanyonyi clocked 43:32.6 while Ndigiti timed 43:47.9 for second.

Wanyonyi, who won the country's first-ever World Under 20 Athletics Championships title in 2021, said he is now fully focused on qualification for the World Athletics Championships after getting done with recruit training at the Kenya Police Training College in Kiganjo.

“My dream has always been to compete at the World Championships and I am glad that I have the time to train for the after going through Police training," said Wanyonyi after a morning training session from his Ngong training base.

The walk racer, who has now been deployed to Mandera Central under the General Service Unit, is optimistic that he will lower his personal best in his quest for a slot in Team Kenya to the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

“These weekend meets are good for us as walkers and will help us qualify for the World Championships. It is a long journey and we must work together to make it happen,” he added.

At the Manga Stadium in Nyamira County, Ndigiti woke up at 5am to clear a 28km training session as preparation for the weekend competition.

“Right now my body is fit enough for the Nyayo meet, which I expect to be very competitive. My training has been going on well and I hope to deliver by lowering my time ahead of Budapest,” said Ndigiti.

He said lack of enough speed work let him down in Kisumu but that is water under the bridge.

“These AK meetings will help us gauge ourselves and rectify our mistakes. Competing in Kisumu gave me a challenge I was not ready for but I have since worked on those shortcomings,” said Ndigiti, adding that international exposure will be key if they are to qualify for the World Championships.

“I want to thank coach George Kariuki who has given me a training program that I have followed religiously. Kenyan walkers should also compete abroad to earn qualification for Budapest because our weather doesn’t favour us at all,” he added.