Kip Keino Classic men’s 100m will be the real earthquake in Kenya

What I am about to write may be a slight to the typical Kenyan athletics fan, but I guess it is what it is.

Kenya is the undisputed king of long distance running in the world. In fact, long distance running is synonymous with Kenya.

Consider this. Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, the reigning back-to-back Olympics marathon champion, is also the world record holder (2:01:39) over the distance and the first and only man to have run 42km under the mythical 2 hours (he ran 1:59.40).

Kenyans dominate the list of best ever times run in marathons. Of the 12 best times, ever, nine are owned by Kenyans. Of the top 100 times, 47 have been set by Kenyans, against 53 shared among eight other nationalities.

In women’s marathon, Kenyan are just as dominant. Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei holds the world marathon record of 2:14:04. Kenyans own five of the 10 best  ever  times run by women.
Track, cross country, on the road, Kenyans rule the distance races like an all-conquering, iron-fisted ancient potentate.

The average Kenyan athletics fan revels in this success not unlike their compatriots in football who, however, unfortunately, give their adoration to foreign clubs and leagues. 
But even these patriotic Kenyan athletics fans will agree that the sprints and specifically the 100m is the most highly anticipated race in elite meets.

Kipchoge is certainly the fastest human being over 42km, but the fastest man in the world he is not.

The 100m gives us the fastest woman and man on the planet.

That is why, be it at the Olympics or World Athletics Championships, the 100m is considered the blue-ribbon race.

To illustrate this point, one million people applied for the 2012 London Olympic Games 100m final tickets!

Who would want to miss a chance to watch potentially the quickest runner on earth in action? Where am I going with this?

Two columns ago I challenged Kenyan sports fans to buy tickets in large numbers and attend the Kip Keino Classic meet that will be held this Saturday at Moi International Sports Centre if they want to watch world class races on home soil.

I implore them; purchase that ticket now, at just Sh200, via ticketsasa.com for this Continental Tour Gold event because the 100m promises to be an explosive affair. A must-watch race.

If you are just landing in town, here is the news: reigning Olympics 100m champion Italian Lamont Marcell Jacobs is the latest inclusion to a top-drawer nine-man men’s 100m field consisting entirely of sub 10 personal best times.

I started rubbing my hands in glee at the prospects of seeing this 27-year-old sprint sensation competing here in Nairobi. Jacobs, against all expectations, won the men’s sprints showdown in Tokyo in 9.80sec and followed it up with another gold in 4x100m relay. 

Usain Bolt (personal best 9.58sec), easily the greatest athlete of this generation, now retired, reacted by saying he would have won that final.

Jacobs promptly challenged the great Bolt to a charity race showdown. Nothing materialized.

Since then, Jacobs has not run in a competitive 100m race. The MISC audience will be the ones privileged to watch him live for the first time over 100m. 

He is ranked second in the world by World Athletics.

Jacobs, born to an Italian mother and American father, has already given a glimpse of his searing pace this season, dethroning American sensation Christian Coleman to take gold in the World Athletics Indoor Championships 60m in Belgrade on March 19 in a time of 6.41sec.

Omanyala, who also participated in that event, was knocked out in the second heat with a time of 6.64sec.

He is ranked eighth in the world by WA.

Ferdie and Marcell will clash directly for the first time, at Kasarani on Saturday.

Omanyala has already thrown the first salvo, telling the Italian to forget about the Kip Kieno Classic title and instead go for a games drive.

To that, I can add, Jacobs could also consider adopting a cheetah the way the fastest man in the world Usain Bolt did when he came to Kenya in 2009, naming the speedy feline “Lightning Bolt”.

Omanyala has also demonstrated his lightning speed. He ran a second best world lead time then of 9.98sec at the ASA Athletics Grand Prix 4 in Johannesburg on April 13.
Jacobs may well be reminded that the Kasarani track is fast, real fast.

At last year’s event Trayvon Bromell of USA took top honours in a world lead time of 9.76sec while Omanyala was second in a new African record time of 9.77sec, and old horse, multiple world champion Justin Gatlin third in 10.03sec. 

Those times placed Bromell and Omanyala sixth and eighth fastest men in the world respectively. Jacobs sits 11th in that elevated list.

Also registered to race is Tokyo Olympic Games 100m silver medallist Fred Kerley of the USA. And wait for this. Kerley is currently ranked first in the world in 100m and owns a personal best time of 9.84sec.

He is familiar with the MISC track. He won the 2021 Kip Keino Classic men’s 200m final in a blistering time of 19.76sec. 

It only takes seconds for the sprint to end, a tense, magical freeze in time, as protagonists attempt to inherit the mantle of “Fastest Human Being. NTV will beam the speed race live.

History could again be beckoning on the Moi International Sports Centre blue track come Saturday. I certainly see the much desired sub 10 seconds times.  Explosive stuff these. 
See you there!

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