Edina Jebitok: Another one from Keringet

Keringet area of Kuresoi South, Nakuru County, has produced some of Kenya’s revered world beaters in athletics.

Perhaps the most prominent of them are Olympic 1,500 metres champion Faith Chepng’etich and Olympic 10,000 metres silver medallist Paul Tanui. The area has also churned out the 2016 Diamond League 800 metres series winner Ferguson Rotich, 2013 World 5,000 metres bronze medallist Isaiah Kiplangat, Boston Marathon champion Geoffrey Kirui and fast-rising World Under-20 Championships 3,000m steeplechase champion Amos Kirui.

That is the driving force behind Edina Jebitok, the class seven pupil at Keringet Estate Primary School, who is firmly in the footsteps of former schoolmate Faith Chepng’etich.

Jebitok proved dominant winning her 1,500m semi-final in four minutes, 19.16 seconds before staging a gun-to-tape performance in the final in 4:16.9 during the World Under-18 Championships’ national trials at the Nyayo National Stadium.

Jebitok is not only determined to give Kenya victory during the World Under-18 Championships planned for July 12-16 at Kasarani but to also reclaim the title the country won last in 2011 in Lille, France.

Interestingly, her role model, Chepng’etich, won the 1,500m final in Lille in a championship record time of 4:09.48 that still stands to date.

“It’s my dream to win the title by breaking Chepng’etich’s record. I am sure she will be happy for me,” says Jebitok, who trains in Keringet alongside Chepng’etich.

After she is done with the world youth event, Jebitok would like to scale the ladder with a place in Team Kenya for the World Under-20 Championships next year.

“I really admire how Chepng’etich has been rising and I'm glad to be training with her in Keringet,” said Jebitok, adding that the world youth won’t be a walk in the park considering the challenge posed by Ethiopia, who have won their last two editions in 2013 Donetsk and 2015 Cali.

“Their reign must come to the end and winning at this final youth edition will be great,” said Jebitok.

RUSSELL READY TO MAKE AMENDS

Meanwhile, Jamaican De’Jour Russell will be seeking to put behind the bittersweet memories of the 2016 World Under-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz with great a show in 110m hurdles at the World Under-18 Championships.

He recorded a world age-16 best and world-U20 leading time of 13.20 in the semi-finals of the 110m hurdles to earn the favourite’s tag ahead of the final, where the young Jamaican was hoping to make it to the podium.

However, Russell finished fourth in the final, just missing out on a medal. Two days later, he anchored Jamaica’s 4x100m team and finished fourth again, this time by less than one hundredth of a second.

“I felt pretty good at the time,” he told IAAF. “I had a lot of confidence going into the final. I think I was over confidence, then I got out and hit the first hurdle, something that doesn’t normally happen to me. It threw off the rest of my race.”

With that experience under his belt, Russell is now keen to compete in Nairobi. “My expectations are to win,” he said. “I just need to keep my confidence throughout the rounds. My greatest accomplishment so far was topping the world lists last year, being the fastest U18 and U20 hurdler in the world.”