Hope of Kenyas relay teams qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games hangs in the balance after a dismal showing in the World Athletics Relays Championships in the Bahamas.
After failing to qualify for the Summer Games in Sunday's first round of the championship at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau, the Kenyan sides had a final chance during yesterday's Qualifying Round Two alongside other countries that didn't make it to the finals on the first day of the competition.
Team Kenya still missed out on a chance to qualify to compete at the Olympics in the second qualification round.
Final shot at Olympics relay qualification Omanyala leads Kenya at the World RelaysThe country must now find other qualifier events for its relay teams to attain Olympic standards before the June 30 deadline.
Kenya's head coach, Steven Mwaniki, attributed his teams lacklustre performance to several factors, key among them travelling logistics that left the sprinters fatigued.
Coming from high altitude to sea level, we needed to be in the Bahamas at least four days before the championships because acclimatisation was critical, said Mwaniki.
He explained that their arrival in the Atlantic Ocean island nation on the eve of the competition couldnt have produced the desired results. He said that gains made during the three-week camp went down the drain with the poor travelling logistics, noting that the results in the Bahamas came after Zablon Ekwam (400 metres) and Wiseman Were (400m hurdles) qualified for the Paris Olympics at the Kip Keino Classic.
Middle-distance and long-distance athletes benefit from such arrangement, not sprinters, said Mwaniki, noting that their continental rivals arrived in the Bahamas much earlier. Botswana, for instance, left for the event on April 28.
World 800m champion, Mary Moraa, who was to compete in the mixed relay event, opted out owing to the travelling logistics that could have interfered with her Diamond League races, while Zablon Ekwam fell sick.
These (Moraa and Ekwam) were my fastest 400m athletes in the mixed relay and without them, I was left handicapped. One athlete can make a big difference, said Mwaniki, singling out World 100m silver medallist, Letsile Tebogo, who anchored Botswana to victory in the mens 4x400m.
I started on the wrong footing when four of my athletes were left behind owing to visa hitches. It demoralises athletes, said Mwaniki, adding that Athletics Kenya needs to plan for races in Europe for some of the relay teams and sprinters to qualify for Paris.
Kenya has a slim chance of making it to Paris in the mens 4x400m event as they are ranked 37th in the world. Eight countries are placed above them in the world's top list.
Kenyas mixed relay team is placed 13th and also has a chance of making it to Paris with Botswana (10), Belgium (8), and Mexico (12) ahead of them in the world's top list.
The mens 4x100m team is placed 39th and has eight countries ranked above them, and face a herculean task in trying to improve their rankings before the deadline.
Hopes were especially high that the Kenyan mens 4x400m team could qualify for Paris after missing the automatic qualification, but all was in vain as they finished fourth in 3:04.83 in heat one.
The United States of America (USA), which was disqualified on the first day, put their best feet forward, winning the heat in 2:59.95, followed by India in 3:03.23, as both teams sealed their Paris slots.
Spain (3:02.39) and Poland (3:02.91) claimed the places in heat two, while Brazil (3:01.86) and Trinidad and Tobago (3:02.39) snatched the slots in heat three.
Botswana won gold in 2:59.11, beating South Africa (3:00.75) and Belgium (3:01.16) to silver and bronze.
Kenya finished fifth in heat two of the mixed relay race in 3:18.76, while the Kenyan mens 4x100m settled fourth in heat three in 39.15. Germany, Switzerland, Bahamas, Jamaica, Great Britain, and Ukraine qualified.
Ferdinand Omanyalas 4x100m team finished fourth in heat three in 39.15 as South Africa (38.08) and Australia (38.46) grabbed the tickets to Paris.
The USA won men's and womens 4x100m, womens 4x400m and mixed relay titles.
