Africa under 18 race walk bronze medalist Stephen Ndangili Kihu has turned his focus to compete at the World Athletics championships in Tokyo, japan next year after missing the world under 20 podium finish here in Lima, Peru.
Ndangili, who will be graduating to senior ranks later this year said that he has missed the podium at the Estadio Atlético de la Videna where he set the national under 20 record after finishing in position nine but that should not be the end of the career.
“This is a gone case and I am looking forward for the World Championships in Tokyo japan come next year. Since I know what has happened, I am going to work on it properly before the world championships,” said Ndangili.
He set the national under 20 record at 40:37.54 in a race won by Tunis Rayen Chern at 39:24.85 with the championships record followed by Mexican Emiliano Barba at 39:2710, which was a also the national record for silver with Italian Giuseppe Disabato completing the podium positions with 39:31.25 as another national under 20 record.
“I thank God for this good race. The race was so fast and tough. I really wanted to contain the race, sticking in front unfortunately I was knocked on my shoulder, thigh and ankle that disabled my speed. The knocking happened thrice and it took me about 200m to recover from the pain because I was not feel my right leg. To avoid losing my walking posture and receiving a card, I had to slow down contain myself, recover then hit the walk again,” he said.
He added that its unfortunate that once he recovered, his competitors had walked too far to overtake them.
“Above all the challenges, I have come out with my Personal best and a national under 20 record after shading off two minutes from the past event. I feel grateful to compete for my country and as Africa, we were only nine of us and the only Kenyan on the track,” he added.