Big names expected at Kip Keino Classic

International and local entries for the Kip Keino Classic, the final gold label event of the World Athletics Continental Tour due October 3, close on Friday this week with several big names expected to participate.

However, the chairman of the organising committee Jackson Tuwei, who is also the Athletics Kenya president, said a tentative entry list will be released Tuesday.

An estimated 150 athletes will take part in the seventh and last gold label event this season that is an invitational meet, featuring straight finals.

“We shall communicate to all the athletes before we can release the entry list. There is a lot that will happen this week and we shall communicate accordingly,” said Tuwei during the official  launch of the event by Cabinet Secretary for Sports Amina Mohamed at Riadha House, Nairobi Monday.

Core events, where athletes are chosen by World Athletics,  in the Kip Keino Classic are triple jump, hammer throw, 200m and 3,000m steeplechase, featuring men and women.

Javelin throw (men only), 400m, 800m, 1,500m and 5,000m will fall under the discretionary events,  where the national federation also chooses athletes to participate.

The 20km race walk, high jump (men only), long jump (women only), 4x400m mixed relay, 400m hurdles and 10,000m (men only) are in the national category.

The 5,000m world champion Hellen Obiri, the winner of 5,000m race in Monaco, and 1,500m world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, who took part in a virtual 2,000m race at the Oslo Impossible Games before winning the 1,500m in Monaco, are some of the elite athletes expected to race at the Kip Keino Classic.

Also expected is the 3,000m steeplechase world champion Conseslus Kipruto, who was originally scheduled to compete in Monaco but tested positive for Covid-19.

Tuwei said that with no test run or local trials in place, they have used current world ranking and results from last year to pick the local athletes for the discretionary and local events.

“We used the Doha World Championships, African games and National Championships to select our team,” said Tuwei. He commended Amina for spearheading the drive to rehabilitate several stadiums across the country.

Winners in each of the core events will pocket Sh600,000, runners up  Sh450,000, third-placed finishers Sh300,000 and fourth-placed Sh200,000. Those coming in fifth will earn Sh150,000.

The winners in discretionary events will get Sh300,000.