Most of the Kenyan athletes including 100m African record holder Ferdinand Omurwa Omanyala and former World Javelin champion Julius Yego are not happy with the new qualifying standards set by the World Athletics.
The athletics governing body recently announced that it had changed the qualifying standards for the upcoming 2023 World Athletics Championships slated for August 19 to Sunday, August 27, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary.
World Athletics has increased the distances that athletes have to meet in field events in order to qualify for the World Championships.
It has also reduced the qualifying time for most short distance races including the 100m.
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The only runners who have a reason to smile are the 800m ones since their qualifying time has been increased.
The 800m qualifying time for the previous editions were 1:44.90 and 1:59.50 for men and women respectively.
Now, World Athletics has increased the time to 1:45.00 for men and 1:59.80 for their female counterparts.
Speaking to Nation Sport, Omanyala, who has enjoyed a fine form since breaking into the limelight, argued that for Kenyan runners to stand a chance of qualifying, Athletics Kenya will have to organize more electronic races.
"This year, we have only 25 going under 10 seconds and 11 are Americans. That means the rest of the world has to put in the work.
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"That means that Athletics Kenya has to put in more electronic races for our athletes to have a chance of qualifying,” stated Omanyala.
Yego, a four-time African champion is another Kenyan star who is not happy with the move.
According to Yego, the decision made by the World Athletics will negatively impact many athletes, particularly African ones.
"Africa will be the most disadvantaged because few athletes get the chance to compete in many events," lamented Yego.
To qualify for the 2023 World Championships, Omanyala will have to run under 10.00 seconds while Yego will have to throw a distance of 85.20m.
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