Youthful coach Elijah Samoei has been tasked to ensure junior athletes produce superlative results when they line up at the Athletics Kenya national championships starting on Thursday at the Nyayo National stadium, Nairobi.
Samoei, on Monday morning was busy training eight athletes at the Kipchoge Keino stadium in Eldoret on their way for the national championships where majority of them will be making their debut at the national stage.
He says that he and other coaches were working on both track and field, that includes javelin, walking race, 1,500m, 5,000m, 800m, 400m and 200m, 3,000m steeplechase among others for the championships.
“We are quite prepared to make sure that these athletes qualify for national trials after national championships ahead of World Athletics championships in Budapest, Hungary. As a coach, I have access and we know that a few of them will make it to Budapest,” said Samoei.
He said that he was in the last moments and final gear to see the athletes progress well and qualify for trials.
“Majority of these athletes are juniors, who have never tested the national championships. They are young with less experience but they are really committed to ensure they succeed. We have had good training time and that will guide them to stardom,” he said.
He says that some athletes like Gideon Kiplimo and Kelvin Kimutai have good times in the 800m at 1:45, Rodgers Muray and Kelvin Kibiwott competing in the 3,000m steeplechase among others.
“In 1,500m I have Collins Kibiwott and Collins Kiprotich and in 5,000m, I have a refugee from Democratic Republic of Congo that is Emmanuel Kirahula. All these athletes are actually committed and because they are upcoming, they will make it to Budapest,” he says.
He says that he and a team of coaches get the young athletes after scouting them to make sure that they pick the right athlete and make sure that they train well.
“And of course we can see the athletes’ talents as you train them and we can identify that and know that they are ripe for competitions. We train them with targets of what is ahead of them. We prepare them mentally more so we say that God is the key and we pray that we will always deliver our plans and what we do to our athletes,” he says.
“If they make it to Budapest, we shall stand with them mentally, spiritually because they will meet different people so we have to ensure that they are fit both physically and mentally. They have also to realize that it is their first time competing at the national and global level so we teach them a few things so that when they face other people, they know how to handle them,” he said.