Paris Olympics: Back from maternity, Lilian Odira faces herculean task of medalling on debut

All the attention might be on World Champion Mary Moraa when the women's 800m heats get underway on Friday 2 July at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

However, Lilian Odira, the other Team Kenya representative in the distance, making her debut at the Games, is hoping to carry her African Championships form on the world stage. 

The 25-year-old Prisons officer from Migori County returned to racing in 2024, having taken a maternity break. 

She competed at the 2024 African Games in Accra, Ghana in March, clocking 2:00.81 to finish fourth. In May, she became Kenya's national champion over 800m in Nairobi, running a time of 2:02.21. 

At the Kenyan Olympic qualifiers in June, she came from behind to pip Moraa at the finish line, clocking 1:59.27 to not only win the race but meet the qualifying standard for the Paris event. 

She carried the same form to the African Championships in Doula, Cameroon, the same month, running a time of 2:00.36 for silver. 

She has her work cut out in a field that is led by her compatriot Moraa who is chasing her first Olympic medal, having failed to reach the final in Tokyo 2020. 

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Moraa, who won the world title in Budapest, Hungary last year, has raced just twice outside of Kenya this year.

She won in Doha (1:57.91) and then finished second behind world leader Keely Hodgkinson in Eugene two weeks later. This is, before finishing second at the Kenyan Trials. 

Hodgkinson, meanwhile, has been in sensational form. She started her season with a 1:55.78 win in Eugene, then she retained her European title in Rome.

A few weeks later, she won by more than a second at the FBK Games in Hengelo, then in her final race before heading to Paris she smashed her own British record with a 1:54.61 victory at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in London, moving her to sixth on the world all-time list.

Meanwhile, Jemma Reekie was second in that London race in a PB of 1:55.61, putting her second on this year’s world list. The world indoor silver medallist was fourth in Tokyo three years ago and will be keen to make it on to the podium this time.

The British team is completed by 17-year-old Phoebe Gill, who beat Reekie to the national title and set a PB of 1:57.86 earlier this year.

South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso has shown herself to be a smart racer this season, winning all of her races between March and May, topped by a PB of 1:57.26 to win in Marrakech. Her only loss came at the hands of Hodgkinson in Hengelo.

Other competitors include Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma, the World Indoor champion, Halimah Nakaayi,  Natoya Goule, Renelle Lamote, Nia Akins, Allie Wilson and Juliette Whittaker.