L. MathekaCommonwealth Games: Kinyamal looking to put Oregon woes behind him for title defence
Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 25.07.22. | 13:50
The 'Club Games' begin on 28 July to 8 August.
Commonwealth Games 800m champion Wycliffe Kinyamal heads out to Birmingham for this year’s Club Games with the title defense in mind.
The 25-year had a race to forget in the just concluded World Athletics Championships in Oregon as he stayed with the leading pack until the home straight where his body failed him and he ended up last in 1:47.07 in the race won by compatriot Emmanuel Korir to add the world title to his Olympic gold.
Kinyamal will, however be hoping to replicate his 2018 heroics in Birmingham. With a second-place finish at the Kenyan Commonwealth Games trials, he earned his first senior international selection to Gold Coast.
He had a brilliant championship, defeating the then defending champion Nijel Amos in the final to become the Commonwealth champion. This was Kenya’s first gold medal of the tournament that year, as his compatriots had thus far failed to win any of the distance events in which the country is traditionally strong.
Team Kenya off to Birmingham for Commonwealth Games https://t.co/5aEqAk4phi
— Mozzart Sport Kenya (@MozzartSportKe) July 23, 2022
“I was okay in Oregon from the heats to the semis and well into the last 100m of the final where my body could not respond even as I tried to push for a medal. I am hoping to put that behind me for a good performance in Birmingham,” said Kinyamal after his final in Oregon.
Kinyamal won the Kenyan trials running the second-fastest time in the world this year in 1:43.54. His winning time was just 0.02 seconds behind Max Burgin’s world-leading mark from two weeks before the Kenyan trials.
Kinyamal who hails from Trans Mara just 11km from the world record holder David Rudisha’s home says he has received immense inspiration from the double Olympics and world champion who holds the world record in the distance at 1:40.91 set in 2012.
Kinyamal will team up with World Under-20 champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi who finished fourth in Oregon clocking 1:44.54 and Noah Ngeny who finished third at the trials.
