US-based Ewoi, eyeing Team Kenya, opens indoor season

Kitale-born Dorcas Ewoi opened her 2025 indoor season with a 2:01.37 800m run, placing second at the Arkansas Invitational, a race won by Krissy Gear in a 2:00.67 personal best (PB).

The 25-year-old, who in July 2024 bossed a field that included Olympic gold medalist Athing Mu to win the Holloway Pro Classic 2024 World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting, has said she is looking to make Team Kenya to this year’s World Championships.

A former South Plains College (Texas) athlete who holds a 4:05.53 PB in the 1500m, Ewoi was meant to compete at last year’s Paris Olympics trials but chose to sit it out, despite clocking 1:58.58 on 7 June at The Adrian Martinez Classic on the NCAA Outdoor Championships, breaking the two-minute barrier for the first time.

“I made the qualifying time for the Summer Games a bit late and with the traveling involved I chose not to compete and wait for next year. (The trials were held on 14 and 15 June 2024),” the former Campbell University athlete said in an interview with LetsRun.com.

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Having run 1:58 in the two-lap race twice, the second coming in her 1:58.19 PB in a race Mu finished fifth in 2:00.29, a lot is expected from the 2020 NJCAA indoor mile champion who shattered the North Carolina soil mile record in 4:19 last year.

Ewoi, now a Puma Elite Running Club athlete, says she is looking to carry her momentum from last year as she targets the Tokyo World Championships.

“My major takeaway from last year was to keep being consistent, do the right thing, learn from every race, and make any adjustments to keep improving,” she added.

Ewoi who started her running career at St. Francis Girls High School in Trans Nzoia, initially ran for the South Plains Lady Texans track and field team in the NJCAA from 2018 to 2020.

She won the 2019 NJCAA Division I indoor championships in the mile run and the outdoor championships in the 1500 m. Before the COVID-19 pandemic suspended American college athletics, she repeated as NJCAA indoor mile champion in 2020.

After transferring to the Campbell Fighting Camels track and field program, Ewoi qualified for the 2022 and 2023 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 800 m. At the 2022 edition, she ran 2:03.17 in her semifinal and did not advance to the finals. At the 2023 championships, Ewoi advanced to the finals and placed fifth with a 2:02.13 clocking.

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