American sprinter Maia McCoy who won women’s 100 metres race at the 2025 Kip Keino Classic, the Kenyan round of the 2025 World Athletics Continental Gold Tour Series, will face her compatriot Twanisha Terry in this year’s competition planned for April 24, 2026 at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi.
Terry is no stranger to Kip Keino Classic, having won the 100m dash in the 2023 edition held at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.
The American duo is among the latest elite athletes to confirm participation in the seventh edition of Kip Keino Classic which will for the first time stretch into the night, and will be staged using wave light technology.
World 800m champion, Lilian Odira from Kenya will also seek to defend her 800m crown against a strong field drawn from Ethiopia, South Africa, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The women’s 100m was held for the first time at the Kip Keino Classic in 2022, and multiple Olympics and world champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won in 10.67 seconds at Kasarani Stadium.
Kenya's Lilian Odira celebrates winning the Women's 800m on September 21, 2025 during the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025.
Fraser-Pryce’s time is the fastest ever registered in Africa over the distance . She returned to Nairobi in 2023 but withdrew from the race at the last minute through injury. Terry went on to win the race in 10.86sec. Gambia’s Gina Mariam Bass Bittaye won in a time of 11.33 in 2024 at Nyayo National Stadium.
Kip Keino Classic was held at Ulinzi Sports Complex in 2025, and Liberian-turned American McCoy won in 11.21sec. Unlike McCoy, 29, who has been busy this season in World Indoor Tour in USA and Germany before venturing outdoors, Terry, 27, is yet to compete since 2025 World Athletics Championships last September.
McCoy, the 2024 Africa 100m silver medallist, competed in seven 60m races, running her best of 7.16 seconds for second place at ISTAF Indoor 2026, Uber Arena, Berlin, Germany on March 3.
Moving to outdoor competitions, McCoy finished second in 200m in 23.42 at the Pepsi Florida Relays, Percy Beard Track, Gainesville, Florida, UDA in April where she settled third in 100m in 11.38. McCoy and Terry met at the 2022 Global Invitational, and Terry won the women’s 100m in 10.94.
McCoy finished third in 11.20. They also faced off at the 2021 US Track & Field Trials, where McCoy timed 11.13 seconds and Terry clocked 11.14 sec in the qualifying rounds.
Maia McCoy of Liberia wins the 100m during the Absa Kip Keino Classic at Ulinzi Sports Complex on May 31, 2025.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
The others are Chante Clinkscale (11.26), Semira Killebrew (10.99) and Cambrea Sturgis (10.87).
On Monday, Meet Director, Barnaba Korir said entries are still open.
“We expect more elite athletes to sign up, specifically two top sprinters,” Korir said.
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games 200m and 4x100m gold medallist, Gabby Thomas will compete in 400m race at Kip Keino Classic alongside American Paris Peoples who is fresh from winning 4x400m gold from the 2026 world indoor and Kenondra Davis.
Kenya’s Mercy Oketch, who is fresh from competing at the world indoor championships in Torun, Poland, where she set a new national indoor 400m record time of 51.25, will face the Americans.
It will be Odira’s first competition since winning the world 800m title, breaking the 42-year-old Championship Record in a new time of 1: 54.62.
