Kenyans plot for medals in Friday's sprints and field events

Agnes Mutindi, the 400m and 100m hurdler is back on the track on Friday 20 August morning (9.15 am) in the shorter distance as she looks to make a difference against the world's best. 

She goes into the championship on the back of  a personal best time of 1:02.65 in 400m hurdles even as she crushed out in the heats which doubled up as her season's best but was not enough to seal one of the top two slots to book a place in the final. 

"It was not my day. I lost fairly to my opponents who were better in the 400m. However, they should brace themselves for shocks of their lives in the 100m hurdles. The exit from the one-lap gives me time to concentrate on it (100m) where I intend to summon all my energies and make it to the final," she said after her exit in 400m/h. 

World U-18 100m hurdles record-holder Ackera Nugent will be making her second appearance at the World U-20 Championships and unlike in 2018 when she was disqualified in the 4x100m with the Jamaican team, the 19-year-old comes as the world U-20 leader in her event with a personal best of 12.76 which she set in May to win the NCAA Preliminary West Round.

It’s been an extremely busy season for the Jamaican hurdler who equaled the women’s world U-20 60m hurdles record of 7.91 earlier in the year and also set a personal best of 11.09 in the 100m. Nugent appears to still have a lot more in the tank and will be hoping to inspire a 1-2 for Jamaica along with Kerrica Hill who comes with a PB of 13.21.

However, they will have to contend with Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji, who is the European U-20 champion in the event and ranked second on the world with her time of 12.94 which is the Swiss U-20 record.

Norway’s Andrea Rooth is also in the mix with her time of 13.11, as well as Spain’s Aitana Radsma and Polish athlete Marika Majewska who have identical times of 13.39. 

Lining up in the men's 110m hurdles at 9.55 am is Patrick Muindi who is in heat 2. The odds are staked against Muindi who has a 15.53 PB and SB with the 2021 European U-20 gold medalist Sasha Zhoya, set to make his second appearance for France the favourite. 

The 19-year-old, who was born in Australia to a French mother and Zimbabwean father opted to compete for France in 2020 and represented the European nation for the first time last month when he won the European U-20 title in Estonia with an impressive time of 13.05.

Meanwhile, jumper Zeddy Chesire is in action, having been scheduled for both the high jump, set for 10.13 am and long jump that comes on 42 minutes later. 

In high jump, Chesire holds a personal best distance of 1.71 and and and season best of 1.68 . She is up against a field that features five athletes who have soared over 1.90m, led by Belgian 16-year-old Merel Maes and Laureen Maxwell of France who have both cleared 1.91m in 2021. 

Authorised neutral athletes Natalya Spiridonova, who claimed European U-20 silver in July, and Adelina Khalikov, plus Italy’s Idea Pieroni, have all gone over 1.90m in the past couple of years.

Serbia’s Angelina Topic has cleared a PB of 1.88m this year and will hope to follow in the footsteps of her father Dragutin Topic, who won the 1990 world U20 title with a 2.37m clearance which still stands as the world U20 record today.

In long jump, Chesire also carries the underdog tag in a race that has Sweden’s 18-year-old Maja Askag who achieved a horizontal jumps double at last month’s European U-20 Championships in Tallinn, improving her PBs in both the long jump and triple jump to win her two titles. In the long jump her series included a legal PB of 6.45m, which improved on her previous best of 6.38m, and a marginally wind-assisted 6.80m (2.2m/s), which secured her the title ahead of Spain’s Tessy Ebosele, whose 6.63m is the leading legal mark among the entries for Nairobi.

Italy’s Arianna Battistella has also improved to 6.55m this season, while another seven athletes – Poland’s Anna Matuszewicz (6.49m), Ukraine’s Mariia Horielova (6.49m), India’s U20 record-holder Shaili Singh (6.48m), Brazil’s Lissandra Maysa Campos (6.45m), Jamaica’s Shantae Foreman (6.43m), Nigeria’s Ruth Agadama (6.42m) and Poland’s Roksana Jedraszak – have gone beyond 6.40m this season.

In 200m Loice Morara (25.46) and Jonathan Wambua (22.51) are is in the deep end of things as they line up in their first global event. 

Following her performance at the Tokyo Olympics where she broke the African record twice to win the silver medal in the women’s 200m, clocking a world U-20 record of 21.81 in the process, Namibia’s Christine Mboma is the woman to beat in the event and will be joined by her teammate Beatrice Masilingi, who finished sixth in Tokyo with a lifetime best of 22.28.

Nigeria’s Favour Ofili, who is the African indoor record-holder over 200m, missed the opportunity of competing in Tokyo and she will be hoping for a podium finish in Nairobi, having narrowly missed out on a medal at the NCAA Championships where she placed fourth in the women’s 200m final. Ofili is third on the U20 top list this season with a personal best of 22.30 and she will be joined by compatriot Anita Taviore (23.18). Jamaica’s Brianna Lyston follows with her time of 23.28.

In the men's distance and going by the line-up, Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo who is the quickest in the field with his personal best of 20.36 set in April while competing at the BAA Series Meet in Gaborone headlines the field. 

Not too far off is Denmark’s Tazana Kamanga-Dyrbak, who gained valuable experience competing for his country in the men’s 4x100m at the World Athletics Relays in Silesia and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Having set a national U20 100m record of 10.33, he went on to set a senior Danish record of 20.48 over 200m and can be regarded as one of the favourites for gold in Nairobi.

The 2019 African U-18 gold medalist Sinesipho Dambile of South Africa cannot be ruled out with his season’s best of 20.56 and following closely are Jamaican sprinter Bryan Levell (20.60), Bahamian Wendell Miller (20.61) and South Africa's Benjamin Richardson (20.63).

Kenyans in action

100m/h women- Agnes Mutindi (9.15 am)

110m/h men - Patrick Muindi (9.55 am) 

High jump women - Zeddy Chesire ( 10.13 am) 

Long jump women - Zeddy Chesire (10.55 am)

200m women - Loice Morara ( 11 am)

200m men- Jonathan Wambua (11.40 am) 

Additional information by World Athletics