For years, the junior championships have always been used to identify and nurture the talents that would be honed to be the next big stars in the senior category and many have succeeded while others have faded badly.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
While many of the athletes have successfully transitioned to the elite level bringing out the best out of their careers at the global stage, others have found it hard to continue with the momentum.
Nation Sportbrings out to you some of the successes that have been witnessed in the last few editions that has seen athletes continue with their good performance.
At the 2018 World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, Beatrice Chebet struck her first gold medal in the 5,000m and this was the beginning of a successful career in what she said is through discipline in training and getting focused at all times.
Chebet would later bagged gold at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark before transiting to the senior category where she went on competing in her favourite race of 5,000m.
Her first senior race was at the World Athletics Championships held in Oregon, USA where she bagged a silver medal in the 5,000m race before bagging gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
She would then compete at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia in 2023 where she struck gold in the senior category and would later bag a bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
She was hungry for success and this year she led a clean sweep for Kenyans at the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in the women’s senior category before heading for the Olympic Games where she struck gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m races.
“I have been able to achieve all this through discipline in training and following what the coaches instruct you to do. It is not easy but I’m glad that I have been able to do well in my career and I believe God will continue blessing me to even perform better and inspire the upcoming generation,” she told Nation Sport.
The 800m world champion Mary Moraa has also had a successful career with the most success story being her world record in the 600m she broke at the ISTAF Berlin Meeting in Germany on Sunday.
Moraa first shot into the limelight at the World Under-18 Championships in Nairobi in 2017 when she bagged a silver medal in the 400m race. She would later bag gold at the Africa Under-20 Championships in Abidjan.
She later changed her race to the 800m and in 2022 she bagged a bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA before bagging a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
At the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Moraa bagged a gold medal and this year she was in the team that represented Kenya at the Olympic Games and she impressed by winning a bronze medal.
Another athlete who transited well from the junior category to the elite level is Emmanuel Wanyonyi who stormed to victory in the 800m race at the Olympic Games in Paris, France.
The fast rising Wanyonyi first bagged gold at the junior global event held in Nairobi in 2021 before coming in fourth at the world event in Oregon, USA. This gave him more reasons to train hard and at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, he won silver before winning the Olympics title this year.
David Rudisha shot into the limelight at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships that were held in Beijing in 2006 where he bagged gold in the 800m and this was his last junior event before transiting to the senior events.
Rudisha first featured at the 2009 World Athletics Championships held in Berlin, Germany where he reached the semifinals before winning at the IAAF (then) Grand Prix in Italy.
He would later bag world titles at the Daegu and Beijing games in 2011 and 2015 respectively and the Olympics titles at the London games in 2012 where he also broke the world record in the two-lap race when he posted 1:40.91 which has stood to date and another title at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro games.
Will the juniors who competed at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Lima, Peru follow in the footsteps of their seniors?
Some of the athletes who competed at the junior level may have transited to the senior level but they have not represented Kenya at the global events despite shining while young.
This can be attributed to a big number of athletes in Kenya who have turned the national trials to be a small championships and make it more competitive.
Edward Zakayo bagged a gold medal in the 5,000m at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships but his bid to join the national team after transiting to the senior level has been a tall order for him.
It was a successful career in his junior year where he went ahead to bag a bronze medal in the 5,000m race at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. He would later win gold in the same distance at the Africa Championships in Asaba, Nigeria.
In 2019 at the Africa Under-20 Championships in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Zakayo won gold in the 5,000m race before winning silver at the African Games in Rabat, Morocco.
He has been competing in various events though where he has registered mixed results and he has been competing at the national trials but getting a chance has been hard for him.
Justus Soget managed to win a bronze medal at the same global event where Zakayo triumphed and just like his compatriot, he has not impressed at the senior level.
Another athlete, Solomon Lekuta stormed to victory to win the 2018 junior title in the 800m race at the Tampere games and that was the end since he couldn’t shine at the senior events to date.
Emmaculate Chepkirui bagged a silver medal in the 5,000m race at the 2016 Bydgoszcz in Poland and transiting to the senior level, she has not featured in any global championships….CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLE>>>
