L. MathekaI am ready to race any day: Mark Otieno
Reading Time: 2min | Fri. 26.03.21. | 16:55
Due to the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in the country and the stringent measures put in place by the government to contain its spread, the federation sought to postpone the World Relay trials
National 100m record holder Mark Otieno is not bothered by the postponement of the national relay trials that were meant to run on March 27 in Nairobi as he says he is ready to race any time.
The Athletics Kenya(AK) trials were set to select a team to the 2021 World Athletics Relays scheduled for May 1-2 in Silesia, Poland.
However, due to the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in the country and the stringent measures put in place by the government to contain its spread, the federation sought to postpone the event.
"My coach and I had my training sessions tailored to the trials. I wanted the meet to find me in excellent form because I take every race very seriously. The postponing does not affect my form in any way. I believe with the training I have put in I can race anytime," said Otieno.
AK had invited foreign athletes from Botswana, South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania among others for the one-day event to enable the Kenyan relay teams' qualifying standards.
"I did not have a list of the foreign athletes coming however I knew the Ugandan athletes who train in Kenya would be competing and I was looking forward to competing against them. They are very good competitors with an extremely strong relay team," said Otieno.
With World Athletics having set the Olympics qualifying time for 100m at 10.05 and that of 200m at 20.24, Otieno has set his sight on qualifying in the 100m where he says he is confident of achieving the time. His current record in 100m stands at 10.14 seconds and he needs to shave off 0.09 seconds to his the Olympics qualifying time.
"I am trying to tie some lose ends here and there. There's always room for improvement so I'm pretty much working on everything in my quest to qualify for the Olympics," he added.
In his last race at the second AK track and field weekend meeting held at Kasarani, the 27-year old ran 10.17 in the heats and 10.24 in the final to beat University of Nairobi sensation Ferdinand Omanyala. He had hoped to run faster times but had a calf problem at the time which slowed him down.
"My calf is much better right now. It was just a bit tight during the AK meet but my physio Altaf Mapara has adressed the situation and I am feeling great now," he concluded.
