By OUR CORRESPONDENT
Kenyan women are yet to secure victory from athletics track yet the discipline is the most successful since the country made its debut at the Paralympics during the 1972 Heidelberg Games in Germany.
From the collection of 49 medals; 19 gold, 16 silver, 14 bronze the women have contributed 16 medals; two gold, eight silver and six bronze.
Picture this…women in field events have been the most successful with 10 medals; two gold, four silver and four bronze.
Lucy Wanjiru (javelin 3) 1980 Arnhem, the Netherlands, and Mary Nakhumicha (javelin THW7) 1992 Barcelona, Spain are the only female gold medallists from the Paralympic Games.
In fact, before Henry Wanyoike’s exploits in the 5,000m T11 at the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games, Kenya had not won any medal from track in athletics.
The only women’s medallists from track are Everlyne Khasembula (100m T57-bronze) from 2200 Sydney, Julia Longorkaye (1,500m T12- silver) at 2004 Athens and Nancy Chelangat (1,500m T11) silver in 2016 Rio and bronze in 2021 Tokyo.
However, Kenya’s trio -Chelangat, who is the 2023 world 1,500m T11 champion, 2023 world 1,500m T11 bronze medallist Mary Waithera and Priscah Jepkemei -are determined to change that landscape in the women’s 1,500m T11.
They are determined to make a clean podium sweep in Paris.
Chelangat and Waithera qualified for Paris Paralympics by virtue of their medal bracket performance at the 2023 Paris World Para Athletics Championships. Jepkemei ran a high-performance time at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan in May this year to seal her place in Paris.
It will be Chelangat’s second Paralympics appearance while Waithera and Jepkemei will be making their debut.
“Our training has been smooth and moving to Compiegne for tartan track training away from the marrum track in Kapsabet has increased our chances of performing well,” said Chelangat, who is confident of a Kenyan podium sweep.
Chelangat said that their speed has improved after changing the training surface and hopes to personally improve her personal best from 4:22.15 minutes to 4:20.00. “Our training is so well coordinated and we have been pushing each other to bring good times,” said the 29-year-old Chelangat.
“I think this is my time after winning silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo,” explained Chelangat.
“We can only pray and hope for the best because we have put in our best in training right from home to this camp,” said Jepkemei.
Waithera is also hoping to make amends for finishing in bronze position at last year’s world championships. “My dream is for the title to come home. A woman is yet to win gold on track but I have a feeling this is the time,” said Waithera.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan community living in the Diaspora on Sunday afternoon visited Team Kenya currently in camp, preparing for the Paralympic Games to start in Paris on August 28.
The team of 20 led by the president and founder of Comcop and FitParis Weldon Korir spent the entire afternoon with the athletes and promised to offer a similar support as the one they gave the Olympics team, when the Games begin at the Stade de France in slightly over a week’s time.
Former national women hockey star Flavin Stahl also attended the function after driving from her base in Cologne, Germany.
“We are excited to be mingling freely with world beaters like you. You make us proud, everytime we walk with the Kenyan flag in Paris, people want to take photos with us and it’s because of your achievements,” said Korir.
He added: “You can count on our support, we will be having a fan zone just outside Stade de France like we did during the Olympics, but our day will be starting by cheering our athletes inside the stadium before we proceed to the fan zone.”
