Kenya's mixed bag of accolades from Budapest

“We started well but Kenya ended it on a high.” That was the verdict of Ethiopian journalist Hailu Abby as the World Athletics Championships concluded on Sunday at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.

Indeed, that was the true reflection of the event as Kenya scooped 10 medals (three gold, three silver and four bronze) to finish fifth, a place above of  Ethiopia, who had nine medals (two gold, four silver and three bronze).

United States topped the world with 29 medals — 12 gold, eight silver and nine bronze with Canada second with four gold and two silver medals.

Spain, with four gold and one silver, completed the top three positions with Jamaica fourth with three gold, five silver and four bronze medals.

Last year in Oregon, Kenya had two gold medals, five silver and two bronze while in Doha 2019, the country finished second behind the United States with five gold, two silver and four bronze.

They had posted similar results in London 2017, where they placed second with five gold, two silver and four bronze.

In Beijing in 2015, Kenya topped the world with 16 medals —seven gold, six silver and three bronze. At Moscow 2013, Kenya were second with five gold, four silver and three bronze.

Ethiopia had spread fever on the opening day by sweeping the women’s 10,000m podium. Gudaf Tsegay led the Ethiopian sweep after clocking 31:27.18 ahead of world record-holder and the then defending champion Letesenbet Gidey, and world indoor medallist Ejgayehu Taye.

Almost similar results were posted in that women’s marathon with the Eastern African country picking gold and silver through Amane Beriso (2:24:23 — season's best) and Gotytom Gebreselase (2:24:34 — season's best). However, that is the farthest they would go in as far as winning gold medals was concerned.

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon was the talk of the town as she won two of the country’s three gold medals — 1500m and 5000m titles. Her feat immediately changed the country’s prospects amid hope of more medals.

She was a class above her competitors heading to Budapest, and she lived up to the expectations. While there was no dispute about her superiority in her 1,500m, there were murmurs in the 5,000m that The Netherlands’ star Hassan Sifan could run away with the title but this never came to pass.

“It is never easy against Sifan since you must dig deeper in your energy reservoir. All the same, I am happy I won the crown and yes, the focus turns to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games,” said Kipyegon.

Beatrice Chebet gave Faith the necessary back-up in the 5,000m, winning the bronze medal.

The narrative in the long-distance races also changed with the Kenyan male distance runners giving a glimpse of hope for the future. After many years of near-misses, Daniel Simiu (27:52.60) gave Kenya a silver in the 10,000m race, which was won by Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei (27:51.42 SB). 

This time, Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega settled for the bronze medal in 27:52.72.

Things were not very different in the 5,000m on the final day despite Kenya settling for bronze through Jakob Krop (13:12.28) with the rest of the East Africa nations out of the equation.

Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen (13:11.30 season's best) and Spanish Mohamed Katir (13:11.44) took the first two medals.

Coincidentally, the top Ethiopian in the race, Yomif Kejecha (13:12.51) was fifth behind Guatemala’s Luis Grijalva.

In an interview, Krop felt that the Ethiopians have been cornered in the long-distance races and will need to go back to the drawing board.

"Their usual trademark kick in the last 400m was missing this time and will need to do something lest they go under. If they don’t change tactics, then they should as well forget,” he noted.

There was equally proof that the youth development programme was working wonders as three youngsters who have shone at the junior level notched medals.

Kenya’s Mary Moraa won the gold medal in the women’s 800m in a personal best time of 1:56.03, relegating Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson (1:56.34) and USA’s Athing MU (1:56.61 SB) to silver and bronze respectively.

The ‘Dancing Queen’ said she had not seen that coming even though she gave it her all. “I knew I would medal but winning gold came as a surprise,” he added.

Moraa started from the junior level, featuring for Kenya at the 2017 World Under 18 Championships in Nairobi. She is another key prospect for the Paris 2024 Games.

It has been quite a journey for Moraa, having failed to make the finals of the 2019 World Championships in Doha before finishing third in Oregon and turning the corner last year by winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal.

Emmanuel Wanyonyi was the other big hit, settling for the 800m silver in 1:44.53 in a race won by Canadian Marco Arop in 1:44.24.

Great Britain’s Ben Pattison settled for bronze. This was quite an improvement for Wanyonyi, who finished fourth at last year’s World Championships in Oregon.

He said his focus would immediately turn to Paris.

“The good thing is that I would have cleared school and so my focus will be on the race,” he noted.

Then there was the darling of the crowd, 19-year-old Faith Cherotich, who won bronze in the 3,000m steeplechase, where former Kenyan-born Bahraini, Winfred Yavi, ran away with the title in a world lead time of 8:54.29.

World record holder, Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech, took silver in 8:58.98. Cherotich has been a serial winner at the age group level, winning bronze and gold at the World Under 20 Championships in Nairobi and Cali, Colombia respectively. 

Winning bronze in Budapest once again lifted the country’s hope that the future in women’s steeplechase was secure and the Kaliyet Secondary School student could be the next big thing.

“I am happy with the bronze, at least for now. But now I know better and bigger things will be different next time,” she noted.

Men’s steeplechase was another major letdown as the country could only settle for a bronze medal through Abraham Kibiwott.

As expected, Olympic champion Moroccan Soufiane EL Bakkali (8:03.53) defended his title while world record holder Lamecha Girma (8:05.44) took silver.

Athletics enthusiasts have predicted that the narrative in the race is not just about to change.

There were two other juniors — Ishmael Kipkirui (5,000m) and Japan-based Bernard Kibet (10,000m) who gave a glimpse of what to expect in Paris next year. Kipkirui, a Form Three student in Baringo County ensured Ethiopians were nowhere in the 5,000m while Kibet made sure Simiu brought the silver medal home.

It was a bad championship for Kenya's  100m hopeful and Commonwealth Games champion Ferdinand Omanyala who travelled to Budapest ranked first.

Omanyala was not only lucky to come through the semis but finished seventh in the final.

“My body just refused to function and there was very little I could do,” he said after the final.

Despite a dismal showing in the first round of the 4x400m relay, the Kenyan quartet still feel they have something to offer on the international stage. The quartet of Kennedy Muthoki, Zablon Ekwam, Kelvin Tauta and Wyclife Kinyamal placed seventh in their heat in a season's best of 3:01.41.

The Kenyans were on course to qualify for semis as they trailed Jamaica to the finish, only for Kinyamal to pull a muscle with only 15 metres to go.

This will be a team to watch if the country can invest in them. They should be among the top priority for the Miramas camp ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“All we need is some sort of a camp with a gym and coaches,” Tauta was quoted as saying.

But while Kenyan scored big in a number of areas, some departments will need a lot of rethinks and the marathon team is a good example.

It was obvious that the team picked weren’t up to the task and the country should find a way of compelling some of our top runners to compete.

The team field did not portray Kenya as a ‘Home of Champions’, especially in the marathon.

Kenya are aware that some of the country’s top runners pulled out after receiving lucrative deals but this trend cannot continue, considering Uganda, who won the title have, less than 20 top-class marathoners.

The country also needs to encourage runners to take up field events. The country has abundant raw talent and the technical department should find a way to scout and recruit these athletes.

If Julius Yego trained himself through YouTube and won the World Athletics Championship gold and a silver at the Olympics, then it means there is more talent lying out there.

Finally, congratulations are in order for Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei for being appointed World Athletics Vice President.

This is in itself a gold medal considering no Kenyan has operated in that space before. He is, however, the third African to hold the position after former World Athletics President Lamine Diack and Confederation of Africa Athletics chief (CAA) Kalkaba Malboum.

All said and done, it is important to use the performance in Budapest to prepare for both the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships.