Ultimate Championship: Woeful Campaign for Team Kenya with Zero Wins and One Podium Finish

Kenya had eight individual athletes and one team at the inaugural World Athletics Championships but at the end of the three-day event in Budapest, Hungary, only one had managed a podium finish.

Kenya had sent Olympics champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Julius Yego, Phanuel Koech, Timothy Cheruiyot, Dorcus Ewoi, Mercy Oketch, Jacob Krop and Cornelius Kemboi in the individual events while they had a 4x400m team comprising Boniface Mweresa, Mercy Chebet, Kelvin Tonui and Lanoline Aoko.

However, as the curtain came down on Sunday night, only Wanyonyi was standing on the podium, after finishing third in the 800m.

Team Kenya paid the price for the absence of some top names as those sent to Budapest struggled to cope with the stiff competition even with $150,000 (Ksh19.4 million) on offer for first place and $75,000 (Ksh9.6 million) for second and $40,000 (Ksh5 million) for third.

Oketch was the first one to fall as she was eliminated from the 400m at the semi-final stage before Krop and Kemboi finished 10th and 11th in the 5,000m final on Friday.

On Saturday, Ewoi took to the track in the women’s 1,500m final and managed a fifth place, struggling to cope against a stellar cast, some of whom she had beaten when finishing second at the Diamond League final a week earlier.

All eyes therefore turned on Wanyonyi on Sunday with hopes that he would save Kenya the blushes by winning the 800m title but he had a tough outing.

The 22-year-old struggled with the pace of his competitors as he could not match Marco Arop and Djamel Sedjati, having to settle for third and $40,000 (Ksh5 million), when many thought he was set to clinch the top prize.

That came moments after javelin great Julius Yego had managed fifth place in his event. Yego had a throw of 80.23m, which was not enough for a place on the podium, as Sri Lankan Rumesh Pathirage won the title with 91.09m followed by Anderson Peters of Grenada (86.18m) and German Julian Webber (85.89m). Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago was fourth with a throw of 82.41m.

Meanwhile, in the mixed 4x400m relay, Team Kenya saw dust as they finished last while in the 1,500m, Cheruiyot could only finish eighth as Koech settled for 10th place.