Breaking with tradition: Kenya’s team for World Relays highlights the country’s quiet sprint revolution

For decades, Kenya has reigned supreme in middle– and long-distance running.

From grueling marathons around the world to intense 10,000-meter track finals, Kenyan athletes have collected medals and broken records with astonishing regularity. Few nations, if any, have done so more consistently.

But while the Kenyans will no doubt continue to dominate those events, seemingly never running out of Olympic and world champions, the East African country now seeks to diversify its interests, eyeing excellence in the sprints — an area where it has, historically, achieved very little success.

Excluding hurdles, no Kenyan, male or female, has won an Olympic medal in a sprint event since Samson Kitur’s 400m Bronze at Barcelona 1992, while the nation still awaits its maiden honour of that sort at the World Athletics Championships over four decades after debuting at the competition.

The desire to improve that underwhelming record was evident in the eyes of each of the 53 participants present on April 12, 2025 at the Nyayo National Stadium in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, for the national relay trials — a competitive event that felt more like a collective statement of intent.

If Kenyan athletes have traditionally been celebrated for their endurance, what was abundantly on display at the trials was still another quality: the speed needed to succeed across shorter tracks.

Old heads, Young shoulders

The trials were held in preparation for the World Athletics Relays next month in Guangzhou, China. More than just another meet, that event serves as a crucial qualifier for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, slated for September.

To secure a World Championship berth, countries must finish in the top 14 of each relay event, heightening the stakes at those upcoming meets in the Far East, where Kenya is scheduled to compete in four events: Men’s 4x100m, Men’s 4x400m, Women’s 4x400m, and Mixed 4x400m.

The 21-athlete contingent is headlined by Ferdinand Omanyala, currently Africa’s fastest man, who is backed up in the 4x100m lineup by his highly-rated younger brother, Isaac Omurwa (one of two ambitious newcomers). Mark Otieno, the former national record-holder who would feel he has a point to prove just two years after returning from a lengthy doping ban, rounds up that particular set.

The great hope in the Women’s category is Mary Moraa, reigning 800m world champion and Paris 2024 Olympic Bronze medallist. She is doubling in the 400m relay pool, bringing both proven potential and vital versatility to the Women’s and Mixed 4x400m teams.

Though best known for her middle-distance feats, Moraa also boasts quite a reputation in the long sprint, claiming 400m Gold at both the 2019 Africa U20 Championships in Cote d’Ivoire and the African Games held in Accra, Ghana last year.

Still only 24, Moraa already feels like a veteran, having first captured widespread attention at the 2017 World Youth Championships, where her gutsy anchor leg in the mixed 4x400m relay created a viral moment online. The pressure to deliver glory in Guangzhou, though, would not be borne squarely by Moraa’s shoulders; fresh faces like Mercy Adongo Oketch and Lanoline Aoko Owino, with strong performances in the trials, could have big roles, too.

On the men’s side, Kevin Kipkorir from the North Rift made a strong push, earning a place on both the Men’s 4x400m and the Mixed 4x400m teams with 45.24 seconds on the clock. As impressive as that time was, Kipkorir revealed afterwards that it was actually a little short of what he had targeted.

“I was aiming for 45-flat,” he said.

“But I’ll take this. We’ll polish it in training. The team’s in good shape. If we work together, we’ll get better results.”

Changing the narrative

Sprinting in Kenya was once a curiosity, a path for those who did not quite fit into the country’s athletics niche.

Today, it has blossomed and mushroomed into a well-supported, fast-growing movement. Momentum for sprinting began to build after Kenya’s modest but encouraging showings at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Although they did not reach the finals in both relay events in which they competed, the Men’s and Mixed 4x400m, their overall output offered real promise.

With some more investment and cohesion in the mix, competing in finals does not seem as distant a prospect as it might have in the very recent past.

Belief is, indeed, surging.

“There’s a shift,” Athletics Kenya President Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei told journalists after the trials.

“This marks the beginning of our journey toward Tokyo in September and beyond. And next year, when Africa hosts the World Relays for the first time, we must be ready,” he charged.

Reaching that event in Gaborone, Botswana would represent quite the milestone, but, for now, Kenya’s focus is fully trained on Guangzhou. To qualify for the next World Athletics Championships and ultimately for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the various teams must deliver more than just flashes of brilliance there.

The setback suffered by Omanyala and Co at the World Athletics Relays in Bahamas last year offered a harsh reminder that in relay running, talent and hunger alone are not enough; consistency, coordination and trust are, perhaps, even more crucial attributes.

“We’ve always had speed. What we need now is flow. You can’t win with fumbling hands, even if you’re Omanyala,” said Thomas Musembi, one of three technical officials chosen to accompany the team to China.

Key, too, is adequate infrastructure, and that is also taking shape quite nicely at the Nyayo National Stadium, where a new tartan track is being rolled out in place of the ageing, ill-suited surface. For sprinters used to training on uneven or worn-out tracks, this upgrade could well elevate their game a level or two.

The world has long known how far Kenyan athletes can run and admired them for it, but a new generation wants to be reputed for how fast they can race, albeit over briefer distances. And as they step onto the global stage, baton in hand and hope in their hearts, this lot do not seek to merely participate.

They are keen on chasing history — one powerful stride at a time.