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Swiss sprint queen Mujinga Kambundji set for Kip Keino Classic
Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji.
What you need to know:
- Meet director Barnaba Korir confirmed that the 32-year-old Swiss star, who won a bronze medal in the 200m at the 2019 World Championships, has signed up for the event that continues to attract top global talent.
- Kambundji, born to a Congolese father, Safuka, and a Swiss mother, Ruth, is also a two-time European 200m champion (2022 and 2024).
Two-time reigning world indoor 60 metres champion Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland will, for the first time, compete at the Kip Keino Classic on May 31 at the Nyayo National Stadium.
Kambundji, who clinched the world indoor 60m titles in 2022 and 2025 following a bronze in 2018, will contest the women’s 100m race during the sixth edition of the World Athletics Continental Gold Tour.
Meet director Barnaba Korir confirmed that the 32-year-old Swiss star, who won a bronze medal in the 200m at the 2019 World Championships, has signed up for the event that continues to attract top global talent.
Kambundji, born to a Congolese father, Safuka, and a Swiss mother, Ruth, is also a two-time European 200m champion (2022 and 2024).
She represented Switzerland in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, competing in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. She placed sixth in the 100m, seventh in the 200m, and narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in the relay.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, she finished sixth in the 100m final, clocking 10.99 seconds. The race was won by Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia in a national record of 10.72, followed by Americans Sha’Carri Richardson (10.87) and Mellisa Jefferson (10.92) for silver and bronze, respectively.
Kambundji, who holds a personal best of 10.89, will face a competitive field in Nairobi. Her challengers include Jamaica’s reigning world under-20 100m champion Alana Reid, Belgium’s 2023 European Games bronze medallist Rani Rocious, Liberia’s Maia McCoy—silver medallist at the 2024 African Championships and 2023 African Games—and Tsanone Sebele, the national 100m and 200m champion from Botswana.
“There are four more slots, two will be reserved for the locals and the rest to foreign participants,” said Korir, adding that more entries are expected in the coming days.
On the men’s side, Kenya’s sprint star Ferdinand Omanyala is set to return. Omanyala made headlines at the 2021 Kip Keino Classic when he shattered the African 100m record, finishing second in 9.77 seconds.
He went on to win the event in 2022 and 2023 but placed fifth last year in 10.03, in a race won by American Kenneth Bednarek in 9.91.
Bednarek went on to claim silver in the 200m and finish seventh in the 100m at the 2024 Paris Olympics.