Kenyan athletes have the potential to dominate the globe for a long time in marathon due the abundance of talented athletes from the nation.
In an exclusive interview, Barnaba Korir, executive member of Athletics Kenya, praised Ruth Chepngetich victory in the 46th Chicago Marathon, saying it was a spectacular event that set a new world record of 2:09:56, made her the first woman to run the 42-kilometer race in under 2 hours and 10 minutes, and demonstrated that record could still be lowered.
“The performance is a replica of what the late Kelvin Kiptum did last year in the same race, same course, breaking the world record, super human.It shows the performance of women is still open, and you cannot rule that the world record will be broken. The women’s record has jumped from 2:20 to 2:15, then 2:14 and 2:11, and now 2:09. We would like to see what the limit will be for women.” said Korir
According to Korir, Chepngetich’s performance puts her in a strong position to be selected for Kenya’s squad in the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, next year.
“She wanted to run for the Olympics last year, but unfortunately her ranking was lower than the others who were selected. This is a compelling performance, and we hope that next year she will make the world championship team and then win the gold medal.” concluded Korir
Kenyans won both men and women titles in this year’s Chicago marathon with John Korir claiming victory in the men’s race clocking 2:02:44.
