“Yes, I believe that sprints will one day overtake long-distance running, which has been our main area of dominance for many years. You can see from the last weekend meeting in Nairobi, there were close to 285 athletes competing in the men’s 100m…that is around 29 heats. That’s a huge improvement from the yesteryears and shows that something special is happening in the sprints,” said Julius Kirwa.
NAIROBI, Kenya, March 8 - Athletics Kenya (AK) head coach Julius Kirwa has predicted that sprints will soon overtake long-distance running as the most Get the latest local and international sports updates, football, rugby, at...
The talent pool is huge. I have been saying this for a great many years, watch out if Africa ever decides to get serious about sprints.
Not only Kenya, but especially places like Nigeria. Huge population, huge talent pool, all it takes, really, is a few bucks, and the will--and the bucks provide the will.
Sprints are easier to populate than distance, because it takes way less time, and is way more fun, and the results are IMO determined more by talent than are distance results.
More participation = better chance of success, however there are other places in the world that have serious sprint cultures already, that they will have to compete with.
Julius Kirwa is the sort of person who will apparently say anything. It means nothing. So he is incorrect but if he were smarter maybe he would have said that Kenya has the potential to close the gap some on the international stage in events from 100m to 400m where they have not been nearly as competitive.
I think he means that with the stringent new EPO testing, Kenyan distance running is over. There will soon be more Kenyan sub 10 second sprinters than sub 3:32 1500m runners.
What do the vast majority of sub-25 200m U.S. 15 year old males do? What do the vast majority of U.S. 15 year old females do with sub-27.50 200m dash personal best? Continue as sprinters or continue as explosive movement athletes in other T&F events, participate in other sports as explosive movement athletes. Very few in U.S. with the above sprint results decide to be elite 800m to 10000m athletes. To date many Kenyans with the above sprinting ability as youth decide to be 800m to 10000m athletes. Up to 1972 Olympics, Kenya's men earned an Olympic 4x400m medal. Kenyan men, 4x400m relay were good enough about 7 or 9 years ago to earn a World Championship 4 x 400m medal. Kenyan men were DQ'ed. We are likely to see Kenya once again as a medal threat in 4 x 400m before we see consistent elite results in events shorter than 400m dash.
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Remember kids.....only dopes use dope. And by dopes, I mean Keny
Wonder why my comment gets down voted? It's only the beginning of March and two Kenyans have gone under 9.95. If Otieno hadn't been busted last year it might have already been 3.
In 2002 no Kenyan sprinter broke 11 seconds. 7 Kenyans ran under 3:33.
In 2022, Kenya only had 10 guys run 13:08 or faster (5k road/track), 9 sub 27 guys (10k road/track), 31 sub 60 HMers, and 17 sub 2:06 guys. Truly terrible!
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Is this true? If so, it's a bogus stat. I used to be able to cruise a 10.7, and I was no world-beater. Are you telling me that nobody sub-11 was competing at that time? That seems ridiculous, because for absolutely sure, there were more than a few natural sub-11 guys floating around, with essentially zero training required, just a pair of spikes and a non-totally-crap track.
tbh I don't know how this could have been the case.
Is this true? If so, it's a bogus stat. I used to be able to cruise a 10.7, and I was no world-beater. Are you telling me that nobody sub-11 was competing at that time? That seems ridiculous, because for absolutely sure, there were more than a few natural sub-11 guys floating around, with essentially zero training required, just a pair of spikes and a non-totally-crap track.
tbh I don't know how this could have been the case.
As is often the case, Coevett is talking through his azz. For example, in 2002, Stanley Towett ran 10.67.
Julius Kirwa is the sort of person who will apparently say anything. It means nothing. So he is incorrect but if he were smarter maybe he would have said that Kenya has the potential to close the gap some on the international stage in events from 100m to 400m where they have not been nearly as competitive.
Sadly have to agree with everything here. However, confidence and hyperbole are part of the Kenyan charm. I love when a 3:36 runner confidently states he will not rest until he can run 3:26 and eventually pulverise the world record.
More participation = better chance of success, however there are other places in the world that have serious sprint cultures already, that they will have to compete with.
29 heats at nationals is good quantity, and if they can keep that quantity up while making sprints a big thing in their school system too over the next coupla years they'll surely sift some quality from it sooner or later. Works for Jamaica. One more thing to remember is that distance running isn't the most popular sport in Kenya - Soccer is, hence young guys/gals trying out sprint can always go back to that with improved speed after trying out the 100 meters for a while.
More participation = better chance of success, however there are other places in the world that have serious sprint cultures already, that they will have to compete with.
29 heats at nationals is good quantity, and if they can keep that quantity up while making sprints a big thing in their school system too over the next coupla years they'll surely sift some quality from it sooner or later. Works for Jamaica. One more thing to remember is that distance running isn't the most popular sport in Kenya - Soccer is, hence young guys/gals trying out sprint can always go back to that with improved speed after trying out the 100 meters for a while.
That's like saying distance running is the most popular sport in the USA and Europe because of the number of hobby joggers.
99% of athletic, healthy, and active Kenyan teens wishing to make money from sport, are going into distance running.
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