Kenya affirm dominance in athletics at Kasarani

Kenya's Charles Muthama celebrates crossing the finish line first in the 4x400m during 1st Africa Deaf Athletics Championships at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on September 21, 2019. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |

What you need to know:

  • The hosts dominated the competition, scooping a total 54 medals (20 gold, 16 silver and 18 bronze). Nigeria emerged second on 8 medals (two gold, five silver and one bronze).

Kenya on Saturday affirmed their dominance in athletics with a triumph at the inaugural Africa Deaf Athletics Championships.

It was all smiles on the faces of home athletes after the sterling performance, as the five-day event, which featured 12 countries and held at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani in Nairobi came to an end.

The hosts dominated the competition, scooping a total 54 medals (20 gold, 16 silver and 18 bronze). Nigeria emerged second on 8 medals (two gold, five silver and one bronze).

Team Kenya's coach Sammy Kibet said their victory was merited since they had trained well before the competition and that they are the team that presented the highest number of athletes in every event.

"It is a record, which will take time before it is broken. The achievement has surpassed my expectations, because I had targeted 30 medals. Apart from the good preparation we had in training, we were lucky because all our athletes were fit for their respective events and we had a few supporters around to cheer us," said Kibet.

Kenya started the march to victory in style when they took all the podium places in the half marathon, which headlined the last day's events.

With their rivals Ethiopia missing from the starting line-up, the hosts were expected to shine in the race and Daniel Kiptum led his colleagues, David Njeri and Lucas Wanjiru Wandia to victory.

The trio endured the hot conditions to win gold, silver and bronze medals in 1:09:14, 1:09:36 and 1:11:56 respectively.

The hosts continued to star, with John Koech putting up a spirited fight to win the closely contested 1,500m men's final in 4:06:55, ahead of compatriot Kokobi Omari who clocked 4:07:00.

Ethiopia's Yemane Brahane finished the race third in 4:10:63. But it was a different script in the women's event after Rega Asnaku gave her all to win Ethiopia's second gold medal in 4:35:24.

It was a big blow for Ugandan Senifer Nyakato who looked like she was headed for victory after leading in the entire race only to lose to Asnaku near the finish line and settle for silver in 4:35:88. Kenya's Hannah Wanjiru emerged a distance third in 5:03:71.

Kenya redeemed herself in the men's 4x100 and 4x400m finals, bagging gold medal in both races. In the 4x100, the hosts pulled a surprise when they beat Nigeria to gold, the West African nation, which is known to dominate short races, settled for silver, while Mauritius emerged third. In the 4x400m, Kenya won in 3:24:55, ahead of Nigeria and Algeria who timed 3:28:93 and 3:29:34 respectively.