Could Mercy Oketch be Kenya’s next big thing in sprinting? The up-and-coming Kenya Defence Forces sprinter, who has delivered some jaw-dropping performances, is looking forward to making history at the Shanghai Diamond League on Saturday, May 16.
Legendary Kenyan sprinters Esther Kavaya, Joyce Odhiambo and Rose Tata-Muya have high hopes in Oketch, the national indoor and outdoor 400 metres record holder.
They have predicted sub-50 performances from the 23-year-old this year. Oketch, the 2025 World Relays 4x400m mixed relay bronze medallist, is set to make history as the second Kenyan woman to compete in the 400 metres at the World Athletics Diamond League series.
The first one was Mary Moraa, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games 800m silver medallist, who competed at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme meeting in Brussels in 2022.
Mercy Oketch during a training session at Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi on April 21, 2026.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
Moraa was fourth with a time of 50.67 seconds, breaking her own national record of 50.84 seconds set at the trials for the 2022 World Athletics Championships.
She then lowered her own record to 50.44 seconds at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix on July 7, 2023, and to 50.38 seconds at the trials for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Nairobi.
Then, Oketch entered the scene.
Last year, the KDF athlete reclaimed her Kip Keino Classic 400m title in emphatic fashion, smashing Moraa’s national record with a time of 50.14 seconds. And she has been on the ascendency ever since. Oketch has broken the national 400m record four times in a row this year.
“We have a star in the making here, and it is now up to her and her team to make it happen,” said Tata-Muya, the first Kenyan woman to compete at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland, in 1983, in the 400 metre hurdles.
“The key to Oketch’s success will be her discipline,” said Tata-Muya, the silver medallist in the 800m and 400m hurdles at the 1979 Africa Games.
“She should avoid the temptations of doping and relationships that could ruin her. She should stay with her coach and always listen to them. She should follow her training schedule,” said the 65-year-old, who won the 400m hurdles bronze medal at the 1987 African Games.
Kavaya, the first Kenyan woman to compete in the 400 metres at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in 1987, said that Oketch had the potential to run the 400m in under 50 seconds this season.
“Today, athletes have good shoes, facilities, nutrition and management, which makes it easier to attain faster times,” said Kavaya, who anchored the Kenyan 4x400m and 4x100m teams to victory at the 1984 African Athletics Championships in Rabat, Morocco.
Mercy Oketch takes a break after training at Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi on April 21, 2026
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
Kavaya, who is the only other Kenyan woman, besides Oketch, to compete in the 400m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, is happy that Athletics Kenya is now focusing on sprinters.
“Oketch and Africa’s 100m record holder, Ferdinand Omanyala, have shown that sprinters can also achieve what was once considered impossible.”
Odhiambo said Oketch has the power and speed, and that she just needs to learn how to distribute her energy over the distance.
“This girl is lethal and is bound to go places. She just needs to learn how to conserve her energy and strike at the right moment,” she said.
“She has to run abroad since there are no local challenges. She needs someone to guide to unleash her true potential.” Oketch made history by becoming the second Kenyan to compete in the 400 metres at the World Indoor Championships, after Kavaya, who competed in Indianapolis, USA, in 1987.
Oketch first broke the national indoor record when she clocked 52.98 to win at the Internationales Leichtathletik Hallen Meeting in Germany on 24 January. Internationales Leichtathletik Hallen Meeting in Germany on 24 January.
The previous Kenyan record of 53.34 was set by the legendary Ruth Waithera on 3 March 1984 in Flagstaff, USA, just a year before the World Athletics Indoor Championships were introduced.
Mercy Oketch during a training session at Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi on April 21, 2026.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
Oketch then bettered the record for the second time, clocking 52.25 to finish third at the Madrid Indoor Tour in Spain on 6 February.
She lowered the record for the third time in two weeks when she won in 51.53 at the Meeting Metz Moselle Athlélor Crédit Mutuel in France on 8 February.
Oketch then made history by becoming the first Kenyan to reach the 400 m final at the World Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, on 20 March, finishing fifth in a new national record time of 51.25 seconds.
