Fraser-Pryce to battle America’s Sha’Carri Richardson as 4th Kip Keino Classic is launched

The battle between Jamaican sprinting sensation Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and America’s Sha’Carri Richardson is expected to light up the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani when the fourth edition of the Kip Keino Classic Continental Tour takes place next Saturday 13 May 2023.

This is after the two athletes were confirmed for the 100m women’s race in the highly exciting meet that will see Fraser-Pryce, the 3-time Olympic Gold medalist and 10-time World Champion, return to Kenya for the second time to defend the crown she won last year.

Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce looking forward to raucous return in Nairobi

Competing in Kenya for the first time in her long and successful career, the 36-year-old delighted the thousands of fans as the Kasarani Stadium with a 10.67 (-0.4m/s) victory in the 100m that was not only a meeting record, but also a Kenyan all-comers’ record and the fastest ever season opener of any 100m sprinter in history at the time.

Richardson on the other hand is the 7th fastest sprinter in the women’s 100m after she clocked 10.72s at the Ansin Sports Complex, Miramar, FL (USA) in April 2021.

Speaking during the launch of the fourth edition of the event held at Safari park in Nairobi, Moses Tanui from Athletics Kenya confirmed a total of 204 athletes had been confirmed for the one-day event set to bring among the best track and field athletes from around the globe.

“The fourth edition of the Kip Keino Classic that will take place on 13 May is going to be one of the most thrilling events that will take place in Kenya, Africa and the most spectacular in terms of the value and content that World Athletics will bank on for the future of Africa in event organizations.

“We expect a total of 204 top athletes who will compete in this Championship and some who have already confirmed include Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sha’Carri Richardson, Ukrainian Yaroslava Oleksiyivna Mahuchikh (the 2020 women’s high jump Olympics Bronze Medalist, 2019 and 2022 World Championships Silver Medalist) and Aaron Brown who is the 2018 Commonwealth Games Silver medalist,” he said.

The event is expected to be divided into three categories – national event, core event and the junior category.

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The competition which will sees local favourite Ferdinand Omanyala, the African 100m record holder and reigning Commonwealth Champion, 800m specialist Mary Moraa, 400m hurdler Wiseman Were, 3000m steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech and 1500m ace Abel Kipsang among the stars gracing the track.

The competition received a massive boost as Absa announced a 60 million sponsorship of the event.

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