"VAN" (Sports Desk - 31.05.2025) :: Olympic hammer throw champions Ethan Katzberg and Camryn Rogers will headline the Kip Keino Classic at the Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi on Saturday (31), when attention will also be drawn to the battle between breakout sprinter Bayanda Walaza and African record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala.
One week on from powering to a 9.94 win in Zagreb, double world U20 champion and 4x100m Olympic silver medallist Walaza aims to continue his great form at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Nairobi. The 19-year-old will clash in the 100m with Omanyala, who will be determined to go one better after losing last year.
Walaza’s compatriots Sinesipho Dambile, who joined Walaza on the victorious 4x100m team at the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, and Gift Leotlela are listed. So too are African Games silver medallist Claude Itoungue of Cameroon and Australian 21-year-old Lachlan Kennedy who got world indoor 60m silver in Nanjing and will want to build on his fifth-place 100m finish in Xiamen.
The 200m will see Liberia’s double African champion Joseph Fahnbulleh go head-to-head with 4x100m Olympic silver medallist Shaun Maswanganyi, Australia’s 2022 world U20 bronze medallist Calab Law and 2022 world 4x100m silver medallist Elijah Hall.
After securing a third-place finish in 2023 behind Sha'Carri Richardson and Kyra Jefferson, USA’s Shannon Ray eyes the top spot in the 100m, a distance she will contest against Liberia’s Destiny Smith-Barnett, an African Games silver medallist and African bronze medallist in the 4x100m, plus Maia McCoy and Bassant Hemida.
The field events are stacked with global stars. Building on her 78.14m season opener and her second-best ever throw, Canada’s Rogers will check a new continent off her list when she debuts at the Kip Keino Classic in the women’s hammer.
The Olympic champion will take on Polish hammer great Anita Wlodarczyk – a three-time Olympic champion, four-time world champion and world record-holder – as well as world silver medallist Janee' Kassanavoid, who is after a three-peat in Nairobi, and the 17-year-old European U18 bronze medallist Nova Kienast.
At last year’s edition, against fierce competition, Olympic champion Katzberg threw 84.38m to move to ninth on the world's all-time hammer list. The Canadian will be looking for another big performance this time and has already thrown 81.22m so far this season. Three-time African champion, four-time African Games champion and African record-holder Mostafa El Gamel of Egypt, Dutch Denzel Comenentia and Croatian Greguric Matija are among Katzberg's competitors on Saturday.
Two-time world javelin champion and Olympic bronze medallist Anderson Peters returns to Nairobi for the second time, having emerged victorious in 2023 with a throw of 85.72m. The 27-year-old has so far registered 74.90m, 85.64m and 83.24m this season. Thomas Rohler, the 2016 Olympic champion, returns seeking to improve on his second-place finish from last year. Also competing are Timothy Herman, Curtis Thompson and Julius Yego.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, Norwegian Amalie Iuel aims to reproduce her Zagreb winning performance where she clocked 55.06. She will line up against Daniela Ledecka, who placed fifth in Zagreb, plus Jessica Wright, Bianca Stubler and Eileen Demes.
In the absence of Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, athletes to watch out for in the men’s 800m include 2022 world indoor silver medallist Noah Kibet, African Games champion Aaron Cheminingwa, African champion Ngeno Kipngetich, African Games bronze medallist Tumo Nkape and 2022 African silver medallist Nicholas Kebenei.
After pacing the women’s 800m last year, African champion and world U20 champion Sarah Moraa is ready to make her mark. Moraa will compete against Shafiqua Maloney, who placed fifth at the Doha and Rabat Diamond League meetings, as well as Botswana’s Oratile Nowe, the African Games bronze medallist in the 4x400m relay and multiple national champion who improved her national record to 1:58.7 when winning at the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix.
Two weeks after winning the 5000m in Doha and a week following his second-place finish in the 1500m in Rabat, Reynold Cheruiyot will go against Abel Kipsang, Djibouti’s Ayanleh Abdi Abdillahi, Daniel Munguti and Vincent Keter among others in the 1500m.
The women’s 1500m will have decorated youngster Purity Chepkirui, Ethiopia’s All-African Games silver medallist Hawi Abera Kumsa, Uganda’s World University Games silver medallist Knight Aciru, African 800m silver medallist Lilian Odira and Axumawit Embaye, a silver medallist at the 2014 and 2022 World Indoor Championships.
The 2022 world 10,000m silver medallist Stanley Waithaka Mburu, African U20 Championships silver medallist Zenebe Ayele and 2022 double African champion Hailemariyam Amare will face off in the 5000m.
The women’s 5000m will showcase Uganda’s 17-year-old world U20 bronze medallist Charity Cherop and her compatriot Joy Cheptoyek, winner of the 10km race at ASICS Tokyo Speed Race. Kenyan talent includes Cynthia Chepkurui, the women’s U20 winner at the Sirikwa Classic, and Istanbul Half Marathon champion Miriam Chebet. Ethiopia will field Emebet Ejigu Bizuneh, Shimket Yenenesh and Tsiyon Temesgen Abebe, the 2022 world U20 silver medallist in the 3000m.
Olympic bronze medallist Abraham Kibiwott will face world U20 gold medallist and African silver medallist Edmund Serem in the 3000m steeplechase. Serem clocked 8:08.50 to finish fourth at the Xiamen Diamond League and finished third at the Rabat Diamond League.
Another event showcasing strong and impressive East African talent is the women’s 3000m steeplechase. The line-up includes 18-year-old Ugandan Loice Chekwemoi, the African champion and world U20 silver medallist at the event, plus world U20 bronze medallist Diana Chepkemoi, the 2022 world U20 bronze medallist Mesereth Yeshaneh, 2022 African bronze medallist Carren Kibet, Sharon Chepkemoi, Frehiwot Gesese Ayana, and Commonwealth Games champion Jackline Chepkoech.
The 2023 Arab Games long jump and triple jump champion Esraa Owis of Egypt, German champion Maryse Luzolo, Brazilian Lissandra Campos, African bronze medallist Danielle Nolte and Rougui Sow are ready to take their leaps in the women’s long jump.
The men’s 400m will include the African Games champion Chidi Okezie of Nigeria, World Relays winner Zakithi Nene of South Africa, Australia’s Cooper Sherman and Portuguese Joao Coelho.
For the first time in the history of the event, Athletics Kenya has integrated Kids’ Athletics into the programme.
Cr-WORLD ATHLETICS
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