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Mary Moraa's cousin Sarah sets three lofty targets ahead of seniors transition
Reading Time: 3min | Sat. 21.09.24. | 16:36
Missing out on the Olympics had been a big frustration, but she will nonetheless walk away from her final year in the U20 ranks with two gold medals from major championships
“I want to be the 800m world champion, Olympic champion, and even get the world record.”
These are the sentiments of newly-minted World U20 800m champion Sarah Moraa, talking to World Athletics, as she looks to walk in the footsteps of her cousin, Mary Moraa, the current world champion.
Before she took to the line for the women’s 800m final at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima, Sarah says her cousin was her pillar, having given her all the pep-talk she needed to succeed.
Using what looked very similar to her cousin’s tactics, Sarah shot to the front, utilising her sprinting background to outpace her rivals.
Moraa’s journey to this point began at the age of 12 when she first took up the sport and focused first on sprints, running 200m and 400m in her mid-teens. In 2023, she switched her focus to 800m.
“The intensity and concentration in 800m is high compared to 200m and 400m, but I love how I am scaling the ladder through the guidance of Mary,” she said in a previous interview. “She has been such an inspiration.”
In 2024, she went into the year with her eyes on three major events; the African Championships, Olympics, and World U20 Championships.
At the Kenyan Championships in May, she earned silver in 2:02.36 behind Lilian Odira, then broke the two-minute barrier for the first time to finish third at the Kenyan Olympic Trials, clocking 1:59.39, just shy of the Olympic qualifying standard of 1:59.30.
From there, she went to the African Championships in Douala, Cameroon, winning gold in 2:00.27.
That latter event took place in the last week of June, meaning it marked her last chance to hit the Olympic standard, and while Sarah won the race impressively, she fell short of her time goal, clocking 2:00.01.
It meant she had to watch the Summer Games from afar, but on the plus side, she could look towards Lima with her full focus on emulating her cousin and becoming a global champion.
She was foot-perfect in both her heat and semifinal in Lima, coasting to victory in both, and in the final, she adopted the same approach: taking command at the start and never relinquishing it.
She hit the line about three meters clear of her rivals before dropping to her knees, bowing her head and giving thanks. She then rose and made a love heart signal to the camera before running to hug the Kenyan team coaches, draping herself in her national flag.
Missing out on the Olympics had been a big frustration, but she will nonetheless walk away from her final year in the U20 ranks with two gold medals from major championships.
When asked what she wants to achieve in the future, the teenager sees no reason not to reach for the very highest goals.
Additional reporting by World Athletics
