Lilian Odira competes in the 800m at the Tokyo World Championships last year/ FILE
Kenya’s athletics team is set to begin its quest for Commonwealth Games glory when the athletics programme gets underway in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday, July 27.
A 52-member squad, featuring a blend of experienced champions and rising stars, will carry the country’s medal hopes as Kenya seeks to add another successful chapter to its rich Commonwealth history.
The athletics schedule opens with the women’s high jump, men’s 400m hurdles, men’s long jump, men’s 110m hurdles, women’s hammer throw and women’s 100m.
Leading Kenya’s charge is Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, who will be seeking to defend the men’s 100m title he won at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Omanyala stormed to gold in 10.02 seconds ahead of South Africa’s Akani Simbine (10.13) and Sri Lanka’s Yupun Abeykoon (10.14).
He also featured in Kenya’s 4x100m relay team, which failed to finish in the final. “I want to defend that title. I really want to get back to that feeling of winning,” Omanyala said. “I don’t want that crown to leave the country.”
The sprinter says the memories of his triumph in Birmingham continue to inspire him. “I always remember that day I won the Commonwealth like it was yesterday.”
World 800m champion Lilian Odira will make her Commonwealth Games debut and hopes to add another major title to an already impressive résumé.
“I have never been to the Commonwealth Games. This will be my debut if I can make the team,” she said. “Hopefully I can do my best and, God willing, come back home with a medal.”
Odira heads to Glasgow as the reigning world champion after winning gold in Tokyo last year in a championship record 1:54.62. She also claimed silver at the 2024 African Championships in Douala.
In the men’s 800m, Wyclife Kinyamal will be chasing a historic third consecutive Commonwealth title. Kinyamal won gold at Gold Coast 2018 before successfully defending his crown in Birmingham four years later.
“The target is to go and give my best and hopefully defend my title,” he said. Veteran javelin thrower Julius Yego is also targeting another Commonwealth triumph. The 2015 world champion won gold in Glasgow in 2014 before claiming bronze at the Birmingham Games in 2022. “I feel there is a throw that hasn’t come this season but maybe at the Commonwealth Games,” said Yego.
“I was in Glasgow in 2014, and I won, so I am going back to pick it up from there. I will try to win the competition because I have won it before.”
Kenya will also have strong medal hopes in the steeplechase through Simon Koech and reigning women’s world champion Faith Cherotich. Koech heads to Glasgow in a confident mood after his victory at the Monaco Diamond League.
“This result is good for me because I know where my body is at the moment. Now the main goal is the Commonwealth Games,” he said.
