Kenya’s campaign in the Games being held in France started with the national rugby sevens team Shujaa, who finished ninth overall, to miss out on a medal.
The team under head coach Kevin Wambua lost all their Pool B matches – kicking off with a 31-12 defeat to Olympic bronze medalists Argentina, followed by a 21-7 defeat to Australia before winding up their preliminary matches with a 26-0 loss to Samoa.
However, Kenya recovered to win back-to-back matches against Uruguay and Samoa. First, they triumphed over Uruguay in a thrilling sudden-death match, ending with a 19-14 victory before earning revenge against Samoa with a 10-5 victory.
The outcome mirrored their performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where they also finished ninth after winning two matches. Meanwhile, despite making history as the first to represent Kenya in Olympics fencing, Alexandra Ndolo (37) bowed out after a heartbreaking 13-12 defeat against Ukrainian Olena Kryvystka.
Kenya had hoped to become the third African nation to win an Olympic fencing gold, following in the footsteps of Egypt and Tunisia. Kenya is yet to win a medal in the Games despite sending a team of 83 athletes, and all eyes have turned to athletics to salvage the situation and bring pride to the nation.
When is Kipyegon set to take the track?
Kipyegon is among 12 Kenyan athletes, who landed in Paris, France, on Tuesday, July 29th ahead of the Games athletics programme that starts on August 1st.
Apart from Kipyegon, the other athletes, who arrived on Tuesday include; 800m world champion Mary Moraa, Beatrice Chebet (distance double), Olympic 1500m silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot, Brian Komen (1,500m), Lilian Odira (800m), Bernard Kibet (10,000m), Vivian Chebet (800m), Reynold Cheruiyot (1500m), Margaret Chelimo (distance double), Daniel Mateiko (10,000m) and Nicholas Kimeli (10,000m).
However, all eyes will be on Kipyegon, who will be attempting to complete a gold double as she will contest in her main specialist 1,500m and the 5,000m. While the athletics programme of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will run from August 1st to 11th, Kipyegon, who is captaining the Kenyan team, will begin her quest for medals on August 2nd, during the first round of the 5,000m at the Stade de France, 12.05 East African time.
Should Kipyegon make it from the first round, she will qualify for the semi-finals set for August 8th, at 20.35 East African time while the race’s final will be August 20th at 21.25 East African time.
Her quest to defend the 1,500m will begin on August 6th at 11:05 CET in the first round, with the semi-finals lined up for August 8th at 20.35 CET and the final on August 10th at 21:25 CET.
Kipyegon is the current world record holder for the 1,500m and mile, set in 2024 and 2023 respectively, and the former world record holder for the 5,000m. Kipyegon won a gold medal each at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 1,500m.
She won a gold medal in the 1,500m at the 2017, 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships and in the 5,000m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
As a junior, Kipyegon won gold medals at the 2011 and 2013 World Cross Country Championships and in the 1,500m at the 2011 World Youth Championships and the 2012 World Junior Championships. She was cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2017.
In 2010, at age of 16, a barefooted Kipyegon made her international debut at the World Cross Country Championships held in Bydgoszcz, Poland, competing against athletes up to three years her senior. She placed fourth in the women’s junior race as the youngest finisher in the top 21, and earned the gold medal with her U20 team (it was a Kenyan 1-4 sweep). Later that year, she showed her track potential by finishing third in the 1,500m at the Kenyan World Junior Championship Trials in Nairobi.
This year, Kipyegon has struggled with injuries but managed to break her own 1,500m world record with a new time of 3:49.04 on July 7th at the Paris Diamond League in France. Led out by two pacemakers, Kipyegon broke to the front and clocked 3min 49.04sec in a superb display of running at Stade Charlety to improve by 0.07sec her previous best set in Florence in June 2023.
In a recent interview, Kipyegon remained optimistic about making Kenyans proud in Paris. “I feel good after managing to come back strongly after getting a little bit of a problem (injury), I thank God that everything is good. Hopefully, as a team we will do well in Paris,” said Kipyegon as quoted by the Standard.
On whether the women’s 5,000m fastest mark would be under a big threat, Kipyegon said: “I don’t know whether the world record will be there or not but the most important thing is to win and bring the medal back home.
“My feeling is that everyone will be going for the medals and the world record might not be on the cards.”
Kipyegon, a four-time world champion, concluded: “I promise Kenyans that we are going to give it our all, we can only request Kenyans to pray for us.”
How can I watch Kenyan athletes in action?
According to the IAAF website, there are 48 disciplines in athletics at the Games, meaning 144 medals will be allocated across the 11 days of action. It will be the first Olympic Games in history that has had an identical number of disciplines for men and women.
The marathon race walk mixed relay is the newest addition to the competition programme, replacing the men’s 50km race walk. In the new mixed event, teams of one man and one woman take it in turns to each cover two legs of a relay, covering the full marathon distance between them.
Kenyans will have the opportunity to watch their team in action through the government owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).
When is Omanyala’s day of reckoning?
Faced with stiff competition from American sprinter Noah Lyles, Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, Oblique Seville, Akani Simbine, Letsile Tebogo, Omanyala, who is the African and Commonwealth Games 100m champion, will start her campaign with 100m heats on day three of athletics on August 3rd at 11.55 CET.
The semi-finals and final for the 100m race will be held on day four of action, August 4th at 21:50 CET. In 2022, Omanyala won his first international championships, with victories in the 100m at the Commonwealth Games, and African Championships in Athletics. Omanyala is the African record holder and the ninth-fastest man of all time in the event after clocking a time of 9.77 seconds on September 18th, 2021 in Nairobi.
He holds the Kenyan national record in the 60m. Speaking ahead of the Olympics, Omanyala revealed his readiness to bring home the elusive gold medal.
“I am honoured to be here among the best sprinters in the world for the 2024 Olympics. The competition is going to be intense, but I am ready to showcase my ability at this global spectacle,” said Omanyala as quoted by Citizen Digital.
“Having pitched camp here for days, I can say I have acclimatised to the weather, and I am looking forward to Saturday’s action.”
Kenyans will be keen to see their marathoners led by legendary Eliud Kipchoge during day 10 of athletics action on August 10th at 08:00 CET. The two-time Olympic champion will be attempting to do what no other athlete, male or female, has ever achieved when he goes for his third straight men's marathon gold at Paris 2024.
Others in Kenya’s men’s team include Benson Kipruto and the latest Kenyan marathon running sensation, Alexander Munyao, title holders of the Tokyo and London Marathon titles. For the first time ever at the Olympic Games, the athletics programme will end with the women’s marathon on August 11th at 08:00 CET.
Here Kenyans will be anticipating medals from reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir, two-time Olympic 5,000m silver medallist from the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics Hellen Obiri, and former world record holder Brigid Kosgei.
