Fresh from finishing second at the first leg of Athletics Kenya track and field championships at Nyayo stadium, rising javelin star Meshack Kipkogei has promised to revenge against All Africa Games javelin silver medalist Alex Kiprotich at the second leg set for this weekend in Kisumu.
Kipkogei, who received a new javelin two days to Nyayo event has been training with it and has now perfected the throwing skills ahead of Kisumu leg.
“This time, I have perfected the art of throwing this new javelin. Initially I used to train with sticks but with the professional javelin, I will be doing well,” said Kipkogei.
The young lad threw 64:27.2 metres to finish second behind Kiprotich but he has vowed to set up a revenge.
“I want to prove to the country that am in good position for international championships. Through this, I can make it to the world under 20 championships,” said Kipkogei.
Kipkogei, who was involved in a road accident last year and missed to compete at the national under 20 trials ahead of the world under 20 championships said that the new javelin will guide him to develop his career as a thrower.
“This is good for my career development and it is something that I did not expect to take place. The school played a critical role in securing this machine for me,” said Kipkogei.
The form four student at ACK St. Thomas secondary school, Kapchumba received the javelin from his school principal David Barno, who is also his coach to use it for training before heading for the championships.
“The school handed me this important material from my training after missing the under 20 championships last year though I have another chance to make it for the world under 20 this year,” said Kipkoegi.
Principal Barno said that the school has always been supporting academics and co-curriculum activities and the 19- year-old athlete is one of the beneficiaries for such training kits and will make the country proud.
“He is so hard-working in his javelin career and I saw the need to support him. He is good in both academics and co-curriculum activities. In class, he is above average and talented in javelin so I wanted to sharpen his skills by buying such a training kit,” said Barno.
Barno added that the javelin was bought by the school at a cost of kshs 7,500 which the student could not afford.
“This is very expensive for school children and we had to support them by all means to develop their career,” said Barno.