Bubbly sprinters jet back after specialized training in France
Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 04.05.22. | 15:02
Athletics Kenya is capitalizing on current feel good factor created by Ferdinand Omanyala's huge success in the 100m scene to groom more sprinters.
Athletics Kenya on Tuesday night received a team of junior athletes who jetted back into the country from Miramas, France.
The team of 11 sprinters and field athletes has been undergoing a specialized training at the Miramas Athletics Club to sharpen their skills ahead of this summer's World Junior Championships to be staged in Cali, Colombia.
The team was accompanied by sprints coaches Andrew Maritim and Perpetual Mbutu who were impressed with the progress of the juniors.
"Our aim was to expose these youngsters to facilities that we don't have in our stadiums. We achieved our target where we also had some competitions with the locals and our athletes posted good times. We are encouraged that we will have a very strong team for the Worlds." Maritim said.
Ahletes led by team captain Sylvia Chelangat exuded confidence of making the cut at the national trials to be held later in July.
Chelangat, the World Under-20 400m bronze medallist said the lessons drawn from the program will propel her to more success this summer.
"We went there to learn more skills and personally I gained much from our coaches together with their counterparts from Miramas. We were guided on how to use the starting blocks. Although I didn't achieve a new personal best I have seen alot of improvement on my speed and I hope I can achieve something great in Colombia." Chelangat said.
Athletics Kenya is capitalizing on current feel good factor created by Ferdinand Omanyala's huge success in the 100m scene to create a big pull of sprinters and widen Kenya's medal pool in global championships. Omanyala's fortunes turned around swiftly from a none descript sprint wannabe to Africa's fastest man and the eighth fastest 100m runner in the world.
