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The closure of Nyayo and Kasarani stadiums is set to also bite Kenyan athletes as they will have to look for alterative venues out of the country to attain Olympic qualification times.
Kenyan athletes who have not attained the Olympic qualifying standards face the prospect of running out of the country to seal their tickets to Paris owing to closure of stadiums.
Kasarani and Nyayo Stadiums, the only World Athletics-certified venues in the country, are currently closed for renovation as Kenya prepares for the CHAN 2024 and 2027 Africa Cup of Nations which they will cp-host with neigbours Uganda and Tanzania.
That means the athletes have nowhere else in the country to attain the Olympic qualifying standards and will have to feature in competitions out of the country to hit the required times.
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12:30 - 07.05.2024
Sports Kenya allays fears of Harambee Stars hosting Burundi & Ivory Coast in neighboring country
Sports Kenya, the body the manages stadiums in the country, is remaining confident that Harambee Stars will not be forced to host Burundi and Ivory Coast out of the country in June.
Kenyan sprinters are the most hit as so far, only Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala (100m), Zablon Ekwam (400m) and Wiseman Were (400m hurdles) have attained the Olympic qualifying marks, leaving the rest in limbo.
One of those affected is former 100m national champion Mark Otieno, who is bidding to qualify for the Olympics after returning from his doping ban in August last year.
“This is rather unfortunate,” Otieno said in reaction to the news of the closure.
Most of Kenya’s middle and long distance athletes have already qualified but the sprinters and others, such as 10,000m runners, were pinning their hopes on the National Athletics Championships slated between May 16 and 18 and the Olympics trials scheduled for June 14-15 to attain the qualifying standards.
The National Athletics Championships will also double up as the trials for the African Athletics Championships that will be held from June 19-23 in Yaounde, Cameroon and there were hopes that they will be held at Nyayo Stadium which would have given the athletes an opportunity to hit the required marks.
However, with the closure, Athletics Kenya has revealed that the events will now be held at the Ulinzi Complex which is not a World Athletics-certified venue.
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11:00 - 07.05.2024
Mark Otieno clinging on to Olympics qualification hope after fruitless expedition in Bahamas
Sprinter Mark Otieno is still keeping hope alive as far as Olympic qualification is concerned despite Team Kenya’s disappointing performance at the World Relays Championships.
“World Athletics had sanctioned only two events for Olympics qualification in Kenya, the National and Olympics trials and only Nyayo or Kasarani should host them. Those rules have not changed,” Athletics Kenya executive committee member Barnabas Korir told Nation.
“There is nothing we can do if the government has declined to open the arena. Times coming from Ulinzi are null and void for Olympic qualification. We can only hold trials there for athletes who have already qualified,” he added.
It leaves the athletes to rely on the African Championships and other World Athletics-sanctioned races, such as Diamond League, as the best possible routes to Olympic qualification.
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12:00 - 07.05.2024
Africa's fastest woman invokes divine intervention in quest for Olympic glory
After having a mixed 2023 season, the fastest woman in Africa is seeking divine intervention as she seeks to make an impact at this year's Paris 2024 Olympics.
Already, Athletics Kenya is exploring the possibility of using the Prefontaine Classic, slated for May 25 in Eugene, Oregon, as trials for the men’s and women’s 10,000m as happened in the lead up to the 2012 London Olympics.
The stadium closure has already hit football with reports that Harambee Stars are considering hosting Burundi and Ivory Coast in Malawi during their home 2026 World Cup qualifiers in June, owing to a lack of a FIFA and CAF-accredited stadium in Kenya.
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