Olympic stars set sights on Kip Keino Classic athletics meeting in Nairobi

Olympic stars set sights on Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi

JOHANNESBURG, September 14 (ANA) – Stars of the recent Tokyo Olympics will be converging on Nairobi, Kenya, for the Kip Keino Classic, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting on Saturday.

Athletes from at least 28 countries are expected to compete when the final meeting of this year’s Continental Tour Gold series is held at the Kasarani Stadium, which recently hosted the World Athletics Under-20 Championships.

After winning her second Olympic 1500m title and then claiming the series crown at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich, Kenya’s Kipyegon will make her Kip Keino Classic debut.

Uganda’s Olympic 3000m steeplechase champion Peruth Chemutai, meanwhile, returns to the event after her sixth-place finish in the inaugural edition of the meeting last year.

Both Olympic steeplechase champions will be competing, with Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco having already been announced for the men’s race. He is set to be joined on the start line by Kenya’s world Under-20 champion Amos Serem.

Like Kipyegon, USA’s Fred Kerley claimed a Diamond League Trophy in Zurich, becoming the first athlete to ever win top series honours in both the 100m and 400m. Three years after his 400m success, Kerley won the 100m in 9.87 in Zurich and the Olympic 100m silver medallist is now set to race in Nairobi.

In men’s 100m action will be the USA’s world leader Trayvon Bromell, Kenyan record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala and the USA’s Justin Gatlin, while Botswana’s Isaac Makwala has been announced for the 400m.

Namibia’s Christine Mboma improved her world Under-20 record and African record to 21.78 to win the 200m Diamond League Trophy in Zurich and the Olympic silver medallist returns to Nairobi, where the 18-year-old won the world Under-20 title last month. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman