The 'future of our sport' get ready to star in Nairobi

For many athletes the World Athletics U20 Championships has provided a superb stepping stone to senior success ­– world 800m record-holder David Rudisha included. Speaking at the pre-event press conference on the eve of competition in his home country, Kenya's two-time Olympic champion shared some advice for the almost 1000 teenage athletes who will compete in Nairobi’s Kasarani Stadium over the coming days.

“Athletics is about passion,” said Rudisha, who won 800m gold at the 2006 edition of the World U20 Championships in Beijing. “When you love what you do, you can push to the highest level.

“Here we have few medals to be won but no matter what position or how you compete, it is not the end of everything. It is about participation and enjoyment and testing yourself with the other U20 athletes.

“The World U20 Championships is a very important event,” he added. “The athletes who are going to participate here are the future of our sport. I remember back in 2006 when I competed in Beijing, that is actually where I started my career. When I won I was very happy and it gave me a lot of hope I could make it in athletics.”

In Beijing 15 years ago Rudisha also formed part of Kenya’s 4x400m team and he is looking forward to watching the relay action in Nairobi, with the World U20 Championships programme featuring the mixed 4x400m for the first time.

“After I finished my 800m I participated in the 4x400m relay and Kenya came fourth,” he recalled. “We just missed a medal and I was the anchor, I was a little bit disappointed. The relay is one of the events that I love. My father used to run the 4x400m and represented Kenya at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and they won the silver medal.

“I am glad to see that the mixed relay is going to take place in these championships. It has brought a lot of excitement to the World Championships and the Olympics. It is a great event because in the relays you are not only an individual athlete, it takes teamwork to win.”

David Rudisha (© Roger Sedres)

It has also taken teamwork for these championships to go ahead in challenging times but as World Athletics President Sebastian Coe explained during the press conference, there was a determination to do as much as possible to avoid cancelling U20 competitions.

“This was the one that we were most keen to hold on to because we didn’t want to go maybe four or even five years without a World U20 Championships for the athletes to be inspired,” he said.

“This will prove to be a huge competitive outlet for so many countries here and a huge opportunity for viewers around the world to enjoy these championships. Those of us who were here in 2017 for the World Athletics U18 Championships will remember that this really was a fantastic championship. Sadly, on this occasion for very obvious reasons, we don’t have the noisy, passionate, informed fans that Kenyan athletics has always produced. But nonetheless this will still be an outstanding championships.

“Athletics in Kenya is a religion,” Coe added. “My career was defined by so many of the great Kenyan athletes and there are so many medallists that have gone on from these U20 championships to perform at the very highest level in world athletics.”

Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei was also pleased to be able to welcome athletes for the global competition.

“We are happy to welcome you to Kenya,” he said. “We are very grateful for this opportunity to host the World U20 Championships despite all the challenges that we are going through due to the pandemic. As we still go through these challenges, we are happy that we can meet together, we can come together and we can allow our athletes to compete in a free environment.”

Five of the athletes who will compete over the coming days joined Coe, Tuwei and Rudisha at the press conference, with European U20 110m hurdles champion Sasha Zhoya taking the opportunity to have a photo with Rudisha.

As well as Rudisha, the multi-talented Zhoya, who has competed in a number of disciplines during his career but is now focused on the hurdles, has also been inspired by the performances of his compatriots and on his hope to continue the nation’s strength in the sprint hurdles, he said: “I feel like the pole vault and the hurdles are two events that French athletes have been exceptional with their performances in, especially the hurdles. I feel like we have got a great generation currently. If I can become the next French hurdler who can do great things, I am absolutely aiming for that.”

Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent is another athlete who hopes to make her mark in the sprint hurdles, having also impressed with some fast flat speeds this season.

“I even shocked myself with my 100m time because I did not know I was that good at flat sprints,” explained Nugent, who clocked 11.09 for 100m in May and then ran a 100m hurdles PB of 12.76 two days later. “I’m going to stick to the hurdles though!”

Ackera Nugent (© Roger Sedres)

For South Africa’s Lythe Pillay, the World U20 Championships has remained his focus this season, despite the rising 400m star having competed in major senior events over the past few months, including the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

“Throughout the whole year the World U20 Championships has been the main focus," he said. "Every other competition or race was just in preparation for this event."

On racing on the senior stage, Pillay ­– who is one of 13 athletes to have competed at the Tokyo Olympics before the U20 competition in Nairobi, added: “It has been a big eye-opener. It just showed me what is required and what you have to put in, in order to become an athlete at that elite level. It also reinforced my love and passion for the sport and has made me hungrier than ever.”

Another athlete whose passion for the sport is clear is Angelina Topic, who grew up in athletics having world medallists for parents.

“Since I was young my parents would always take me to training with them,” said high jumper Topic, whose father Dragutin won the 1990 world U20 high jump title and mother Biljana claimed 2009 world triple jump bronze. “That made me fall in love with the sport. I am really glad that I can continue something that they started and also make a story of my own.”

One of the first athletes to take to the Kasarani Stadium track will be Sylvia Chelangat as she forms part of Kenya’s squad for the mixed 4x400m relay, for which the heats open competition at the Kasarani Stadium on Wednesday (18).

“We are well prepared and looking forward to the World U20 Championships,” said Chelangat, who will also contest the individual 400m in Nairobi. “This is the first time I am going to compete in world U20 athletics and I am going to test myself on where I am. I am going to try my best.”

With ambitions of moving up to 800m competition in future, the 17-year-old added: “I am going to test where I am, so that I can move up to the 800m. My target is to become an 800m athlete, being inspired by Mary Moraa.”

Moraa herself finished fifth in the 400m at the 2018 World U20 Championships before moving up to the 800m and competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. There is no doubt that the athletes in action in Nairobi over the coming days will also inspire the generation after them.

Jess Whittington for World Athletics