TOKYO 2020: Syombua takes to the track against formidable opposition in women's 400m

National 400m record holder Hellen Syombua is in action early Tuesday, 3 August 2021, morning as she makes her debut at the Olympics.

Syombua was the only female Kenyan sprinters who met the qualification time for any of the sprints events. The sprinter who has a week-long stay in Kurume before joining the rest of team Kenya in Tokyo said she was using her time there to improve on her weak areas including polishing her technique getting off the blocks and gathering pace in the opening thirty to forty meters of the race.

The sprinter who broke the national record in 2019 after timing 51.09 seconds trained in Kurume alongside the duo of 100m speedsters Ferdinand Omanyala and Mark Otieno . The former reached the Olympics semis, clocking a 10.00 to finish third in his heat in a new national record while Otieno withdrew from the Games for alleged doping.

She says the humid conditions in the city were welcome in her training and had already adapted to it ahead of the biggest sporting extravaganza. 

"The weather is good and I feel the power in my body. I am ready and waiting for the races. Conditions in Kurume are favourable unlike in Yokohama in 2019. Training at home was also good, though it was very cold. This warm weather is good for me. I want to improve on starting off the blocks and the first 30 to 40 meters of the race, "she in a previous interview..

As expected, the East African is a minnow in a field that has some of the best runners including 2016 Olympics champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas who will be renewing her rivalry with USA's Allyson Felix. The former delivered one of the most lasting images in Rio, diving at the line to edge Felix by 0.07 for gold. Felix owns nine Olympics medals, six gold and three silvers. She is chasing an elusive individual 400m Olympics gold.

Another leading contender is Stephenie-Ann McPherson, who ran a personal best of 49.61 in winning the Jamaican trials in Kingston on 27 June. McPherson, who finished sixth in Doha, won a 4x400m relay silver medal in Rio and relay bronze in Doha.

She heads to Tokyo off the back of a series of wins, her most recent being at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Gateshead on 13 July. “I came out here to Gateshead to work on my technique and other areas,” she said. “Now the preparation begins and watch out for Stephenie McPherson.”

Also in the mix could be the in-form Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who set a national record of 49.99 in June and is unbeaten in nine races over the distance this year. She also earned a bronze medal in the mixed 4x400m at the World Athletics Relays in Poland.

The 2019 European indoor silver medallist Cynthia Bolingo, who set three Belgian records in the lead-up to Tokyo, now has a best of 50.29 and will be targeting a place in the final.

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, bronze medallist in the 400m and silver in the 4x400m relay in Rio and a two-time world bronze medallist at the distance, decided to move down to the 100m and 200m for Tokyo. Athing Mu, the 19-year-old American middle-distance star, produced the fourth-fastest 400m this year (49.57) but has chosen to run the 800m in Tokyo.

Additional information by World Athletics