AK plan action under Nyayo floodlights at this weekend's meet

Athletics Kenya are planning to light up the Nyayo Stadium floodlights at this weekend's track and field meeting, which has attracted over 1,500 athletes.

Athletics Kenya Nairobi chairman Barnaba Korir said they are under pressure to accommodate the big number of registered athletes.

“We are working on how to manage the big number. I requested for three days to avoid any embarrassment but that did not work. this means we shall run some races at night, under floodlights to ensure that the meet is a success,” said Korir.

Korir said the introduction of an online registration system has driven the numbers high and that they have learnt their lessons.

This weekend's event had a registration deadline of 3pm on Thursday and Korir said they will make adjustments to ensure they are not caught flat-footed again. This includes closing the registration deadline five days to an event.

“The five days registration closure will help us plan and send the names of participants to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) for testing so that we have clean athletes,” explained Korir.

He said, this will allow the athlete to compete fairly.

With the race entered into the World Athletics Competition Rankings , a lot is at stake as athletes seek to impress with eyes on the 2023 World championships in Budapest, Hungary later this year.

Local athletes, led by the likes of Commonwealth and African 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala, will be up against several foreign  runners including Africa 100m bronze medallist Henricho Bruintjies of South Africa.

The event will also be used to select a team to the East and Central Africa Under-18 and Under-20 Athletics  Championships set for March 10 to 11 in Tanzania.

Omanyala and Bruintjies will be facing off for the first time since the Africa Athletics Championships in Reduit, Mauritius, where Omanyala won the title in 9.93 with South Africa’s Akani Simbine second.

Omanyala, fresh from a successful World Indoor Tour in France, called on Kenyans to come out and cheer their favourite athletes.

“I have just come from winning at the indoors, where I was chasing time and improving on my speed,” said Omanyala, who leads strong sprinting group that also features Collins Omae, Samuel Imeta and Dan Kiviasi.

Ugandan sprinters including Pius Adome, Emmanuel Aboda, Benson Okot and Shida Leni are also in the mix.

The senior event will feature 20 race categories including 100m, 110 hurdles, 200m , 400m 400m/hurdles , 800m, 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, 10,000m, 4x 100m and 4x 400m.

The field events will include  long jump, high jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, hammer and javelin.

Korir observed that hosting World Athletics events in the country has greatly changed the landscape and spurred interest among Kenyans, which has seen increased entries in local meets.

“The international championships being held in Kenya have also inspired local athletes to compete fearlessly as well as foreign runners who want to experience how it feels to compete in a ‘runninng nation,” he said.

Kenya has in the recent past held major competitions including World Under 18 in 2017, World Under 20 in 2021, Kip Keino Classic (2020, 2021 and 2022) and the World Athletics Cross Country Tour (Sirikwa).

Buoyed by these, Athletics Kenya President Jack Tuwei reiterated that the country has what it takes to host the 2029 World Championships.

"Kenya is the destination for all world-beaters and we shall bid for the 2029 World Championships. We want to be the first to host a World Championships event in Africa," said Tuwei.

Kenya unsuccessfully bid for the 2025 World Championships but lost to Japan due to the fact that the country does not have adequate, modern infrastructure.