AK’s work cut out for them after London

What you need to know:

  • Faith Chepng'etich was also interesting in the 1,500m, winning gold despite the stiff competition.

IN LONDON

So far, so good here at the London 2017 world Championships.

Three gold medals, a silver and three bronze and still counting is not bad result at all. However, there seem to be no guarantee that Kenya will top the world this year as it was the case in Beijing two years ago.

Even so, I take solace in the fact that we still won the 3,000 metres steeplechase—our traditional sport—through Conseslus Kipruto.

It was going to be embarrassing to lose the event despite the odds being against us. Kipruto, who won the race had complained about an injury and we were banking on Ezekiel Kemboi and Jairus Birech to give the necessary backing, but alas!

It wasn’t their day as they finished outside the top 10. Kudos to Kipruto who defied all odds to ensure that Kenya still maintained their grip on their traditional race.

Kenya has won the title through Moses Kiptanui (1991 to 1995), Wilson Boit Kipketer (1997), Christopher Kosgei (1999), Reuben Kosgei (2001), Brimin Kipruto (2007) and Ezekiel Kemboi (2009-2015). Their reign was interrupted in 2003 and 2005 by Saif Saaeed Shaheen, but even he was a Kenyan-born Qatari national.

Faith Chepng'etich was also interesting in the 1,500m, winning gold despite the stiff competition. Faith ran a race of her life to shake off stiff opposition from the likes of Jenny Simpson of the United States and South Africa’s 800 metres specialist Caster Semenya.

Kudos to her too and before I forget, I want to congratulate Geoffrey Kirui, who opened Kenya’s medal account with the men’s marathon gold.

The silver medal from Edna Kiplagat (women’s marathon) was also special in many ways and so were bronze medals from Kipyegon Bett (800m) and Paul Tanui (men’s 10,000m).

To be honest competition here in London has been very tight and countries seem to have invested heavily in athletics. While we remain a force to reckon with in athletics, I believe we still need to do more to build up on the events where we had started doing well like the 400m hurdles, relays and javelin.

However, this doesn’t mean we forget our strong events like the 800m and 3,000m steeplechase because the threat is very real. With the exit of Mo Farah in the 5,000m and 10,000m, we will need to go back to the drawing board and plot on how we can revive ourselves.

At the moment, things are not looking good not only in the men’s long distance events but also in the women’s with the transition of Vivian Cheruiyot to full marathon.

Indeed Athletics Kenya have some work to do and there is no time to sit on the laurels because the country’s number one sport is under major threat.