How Pamela Jelimo played a crucial role in Mary Moraa's switch from 400m to 800m

Coach Alex Sang has explained the motivation behind transforming Mary Moraa from an 400m runner to an 800m runner.

Most of the time, switching distances, especially from a shorter to a longer one is usually an uphill task but for Moraa, the 800m has turned out to be the perfect race.

Sang explained that he drew motivation from Pamela Jelimo, Kenya’s only Olympic gold medallist in the women’s 800m, who started off with the 400m before switching to the two-lap race.

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Jelimo became the first Kenyan woman to win the 800m title at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and no one has ever done it yet. Still, Kenyans believe Moraa can reclaim the title in Paris.

“It motivated me that if Pamela crossed from 400m to 800m and became an Olympic champion, I also wanted to transform Mary Moraa from the 400m to 800m,” Sang said in an interview.

When Moraa switched to the 800m, she claimed her first global title at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. Before the Commonwealth Games, Moraa had won a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Moraa then bounced back and surged to a win gold at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, making her the third Kenyan woman to win the world title in the 800m.

She came behind Janeth Jepkosgei and Eunice Sum who had won the titles at the 200 and 2013 World Championships respectively.