Athletics Kenya 2022 World Championships Trials: Preview, schedule, and stars to watch
Three Olympic champions are among Kenya's top stars hoping to qualify for the world championships. Here is everything you need to know about the competition on 24 and 25 June.
Athletics
The Kenyan team for the World Athletics Championships will be determined this week on 24 and 25 June in Nairobi, with three Olympic champions leading the list of athletes seeking to qualify for next month’s event in Oregon.
Double Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon is one of the three Olympic gold medallists competing for a spot, as well as the 800m men’s gold medallist at Tokyo 2020, Emmanuel Korir, and Conseslus Kipruto, the 3000m steeplechase star who is making a comeback after battling injury.
Find out everything you need to know about the two-day event below.
When and where will the Kenyan trials take place?
The Kenya athletics trials, which will also be used to select the track and field team for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, will take place on 24 and 25 June at the Kasarani Stadium in the capital Nairobi.
The stadium recently hosted the World Athletics Continental Tour - Kip Keino Classic - and was also the venue for the world U20 championships in 2021 and the 2017 world U18 championships.
The trials will begin on 24 June with the men’s race walking to take place at 12:00. The men’s 5000m will then get the track action underway at 13:10.
The final event of the two-day-long trials will see African record holder Ferdinand Omanyala compete in the men's 100m on 25 June at 14:40.
Stars to watch at the Kenyan Athletics Trials
Nearly 10 months after she thrilled the home crowd with her 1500m win at the 2021 Kip Keino Classic, Olympic champion Kipyegon returns to Kasarani in hot form.
The five-time world medallist, who became the second woman in Olympic history to win two consecutive titles, opened her season with a second place in the 3000m at the Diamond League in Doha.
Later, at the star-studded Prefontaine Classic, the prolific track winner was victorious in the 1500m for the fourth time bettering her meet record in a world leading time of 3:52.59.
Though breaking the world record is on Kipygeon’s mind her main goal for the season to claim her second world title after taking two silvers in Beijing 2015 and Doha 2019.
The other Tokyo gold medallist to keep an eye on is Emmanuel Korir.
The Texas-based runner extended Kenya’s dominance in the two-lap race at the Olympics clinching the nation’s fourth consecutive title.
He’s only raced twice this season, finishing third in his outdoor season opener at the Duval County Challenge at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida on 21 May.
In his first Diamond League race in Rabat he was eighth behind teen sensation Emmanuel Wanyonyi.
17-year-old Wanyonyi hopes to secure his ticket to the World Championships in his debut season as a senior. The world U20 champion also won the 800m at the Golden Spike in Ostrava.
Kenya still is the most decorated country in steeplechase at both the Olympics and at worlds.
The east African nation had won every men’s title since 1968, apart from 1976 and 1990, before losing gold at the Tokyo Olympics to Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali
Two-time world champion Conseslus Kipruto, who had beaten El Bakkali twice before in London and in Doha, is back in the fray keen to make the team after missing Tokyo.
READ MORE: Morroco's Soufiane El Bakkali makes history winning men's 3,000m steeplechase gold
World champion Hellen Obiri is tipped to make the women’s 5000m and 10,000m teams.
Another interesting race should be the 1500m where Olympic silver medallist and world champion Timothy Cheruiyot will line up against his training partner Elijah Manang’oi, the 2017 world gold medallist and Tokyo Olympian Abel Kipsang, the newly crowned African champion.
There will be interest as well in the men’s 100m. Star sprinter Omanyala seems almost assured of a place in the Oregon team, after clinching double gold at the recently held African Athletics Championships.
He also wants to better his world lead of 9.85 seconds from the Kip Keino Classic at the same venue.
How to watch Athletics Kenya Trials
The two-day event will be streamed live on AK TV here
Athletics Kenya Trials schedule:
Day one (all events are direct finals)
13:10: men’s 5000m
13:40: women’s 200m
13:55: men’s 200m
14:10: women’s 1500m
14:25: women’s 10,000m
15:10: men’s 3000m SC
15:30: women’s 800m
15:45: men’s 400m
Day two (all events are direct finals)
12:10: men’s 400m hurdles
12:25: women’s 5000m
12:55: women's 3000m SC
13:15: men’s 1500m
13:30: women’s 400m
13:40: women’s 10,000m
14:10: men’s 800m
14:30: women's 100m
14:40: men's 100m
(All times in GMT +3)