Premium
Kenya ready for better performance in World Relays
Steven Onyango and Boniface Mweresa sharpening their skills on May 7, 2025, at the Ulinzi Sports Complex in Langata, Nairobi, ahead of the World Athletics Relay Championships this weekend in Guangzhou, China.
What you need to know:
- Team Manager Kennedy Tanui expressed confidence in the team’s preparation and goals.
- “We are aiming for qualification for all our teams because we feel there is a need to also send them to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, and this is our chance to hit the mark.
Kenya will be hoping for a stronger showing at this year’s World Athletics Relay Championships, set to take place on May 10 and 11 in Guangzhou, China.
The seventh edition of the global event has attracted 730 athletes—406 men and 324 women—from 43 countries, who will battle at the Guangdong Olympic Stadium.
Since the inaugural event in 2014 at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas, Kenya has won a total of 11 medals: three gold, six silver, and two bronze.
However, the team failed to secure any medals at last year’s edition, also held in the Bahamas, where the United States topped the medal table with four golds.
The Kenyan contingent of 22 athletes departed the country last night aboard Qatar Airways and is expected to arrive in China this afternoon.
Leading the team is the Africa and Commonwealth Games 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala.
Omanyala is already in China, where he competed at both the Xiamen Diamond League, where he finished second, and the Shanghai Diamond League, where he placed eighth.
He is set to compete in the men’s 4x100m relay, where he is expected to team up with Meshack Kitsubuli Babu, Kevin Kipkorir, Boniface Ontuga Mweresa, Mark Otieno Odhiambo, Steve Onyango Odhiambo, his younger brother Isaac Kundu Omurwa, and Moses Wasike Onyango.
The final lineup for the men’s 4x100m relay will be confirmed once the team submits its official list to the global athletics governing body.
For the men’s 4x400m relay, Kenya will be represented by Zablon Ekwam, David Sanayek, Kevin Kipkorir, Allan Kipyego, Wiseman Were, Boniface Ontuga Mweresa, Brian Onyari, and Kelvin Kiprotich Tonui.
In the women’s 4x400m relay, the team includes Lanoline Aoko, Mercy Chebet, Hellen Syombua, Esther Mbagari, Gladys Mumbe, Vanice Kerubo Nyagisera, and Mercy Adongo Oketch.
Athletes for the 4x400m mixed relay will be drawn from the men’s and women’s 4x400m squads, with the final roster expected by Friday.
Team Manager Kennedy Tanui expressed confidence in the team’s preparation and goals.
“We are aiming for qualification for all our teams because we feel there is a need to also send them to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, and this is our chance to hit the mark.
The team is in high spirits and we are asking Kenyans to continue praying for us,” said Tanui yesterday before their departure.
Botswana will host the next edition next year, before the competition returns to the Bahamas in 2028.