Kenyan target more medals at World Mountain Running Champs

After winning three gold medals on the opening day of the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, Team Kenya is eyeing more on the last day of the event in Austria on Saturday.  

Kenya won individual gold medal through Philemon Kipng’eno in the men’s vertical uphill race and team titles in the men’s and women’s races on Thursday afternoon.

Kenya’s Philaries Jeruto Kisang won silver in the women’s race in a time of 48:51 . The race was won by Andrea Mayr of Austria at 48:14.

Kenya won the women’s team title after garnering 17 points followed= by Germany with 33 while Great Britain and Northern Ireland tied in third position with 51 points.

In the men’s category, Kenya garnered 11 points, beating neighbours Uganda to second place with 21 points while Switzerland were third with 45.

Team Kenya returns to action on Saturday where Kenyan athletes are expected to dominate the up-and-down mountain classic 15.5km race.

Kipng’eno will be seeking a double at the championship having won silver in the event last year.

All the athletes, who represented Kenya in the vertical race on Wednesday, will return to action on Saturday seeking more medals.

Athletic Kenya Mountain running chairman, Peter Angwenyi, said they expect a better performance on Saturday. “We are targeting more individual and team titles on Saturday,” said a confident Angwenyi.

Angwenyi, the Nyanza South chairman, hailed the team for the sterling performance.

He said: “This is the greatest ever performance by Kenya in the Mountain Running championship. I’m appealing to the government and corporates to support AK in developing the sport in all the 47 counties as a tool to attract tourism and fight the effects of climate change.”

Kipng’eno, the two-time World champion predicted his nation will continue to be a force to reckon with in mountain running in the years ahead. If this performance was anything to go, then future podiums could as well be filled with Kenyans.

“Every year, we are getting better. In Thailand, we were only three competitors and now we are seven. Every year we are increasing the number of athletes,” he told World Athletics in an interview. 

“I thank God because I have retained my title,” said Kipngeno, who trains in Nakuru County.

“The course was very nice but very difficult. I started going hard at 5km. I did the course before so when I was running, I was very confident because I knew all of it. I used to train in Austria. I have a lot of friends in Europe and it’s like my second home. I trained very well so, I knew I was going to win.”