Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, leads a group of 24 Kenyan athletes selected to participate in the World Relays Championships, scheduled for May 4-5 in the Bahamas.
Omanyala heads the men’s 4x100m team, which also includes Mark Otieno, Meshack Babu, Samuel Chege, Mike Mokamba, and Hesbon Ochieng.
In the women’s category, World 800m champion Mary Moraa will lead the country’s 4x400m team, which consists of Mercy Chebet, Jackline Nanjala, Joan Cherono, Veronica Mutua, Vanice Kerubo, Maureen Thomas, Gladys Chepkemboi, and Diana Chebet.
The men’s 4x100m has attracted 32 teams, while 30 teams are participating in the women’s event. Similarly, 32 men’s teams will participate in the 4x400m, with 27 teams in the women’s event. Additionally, 30 teams are entered in the mixed relay.
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The Olympic qualifying mark for the 400m hurdles is 48.70 while the 400m cut-off is 45.00.
The championship will serve as a qualifier for the Paris Olympics later this year and will involve 893 athletes from 54 countries.
Start lists will be published on May 3 while team line-ups will be confirmed nearer to the time of each race.
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Omanyala is upbeat ahead of the competition, he recently posted a photo during one of his training session captioned “Same person, big goals, big year, big dreams but a different approach.”