L. MathekaKDF’s Chepkirui dreaming up Olympics debut
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Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 16.03.21. | 08:04
She is working on lowering her time ahead of upcoming national championships and trials
African Championships (2016) 5000m gold medalist Sheila Chepkirui is focused on making the Kenyan team to the Tokyo Olympics which will be her first appearance at the Summer Games.
At the just-concluded Athletics Kenya (AK) second track and field meet, the 30-year old floored a field of 11 in 5000m to place first in a time of 15:29.8 ahead of Beatrice Chebet of Londiani who clocked 15:30.6 for second place. Mary Monanu managed 15:52.2 for third place.
“The second AK meet was my first track event this season. I was last in action at the KDF cross country. I decided to race in the second meet to gauge how my body is responding to training ahead of upcoming championships. In addition to the national KDF championship, I have my eyes set on making the Kenyan team to the Olympics since I have never featured at the Games. With good preparations, I know I have a shot at the Games and a good chance to bring a medal home,” said Chepkirui.
She continued, “I will be back to training to work on my speed. I am focusing on lowering my time since, despite winning in the AK meet, my intention was to run under 15 which I failed to do.”
Chepkirui joined KDF in 2012 after a good career earlier on in her junior years that saw her win 1500m at the 2005 World Youth Championships to claim her first international gold medal. She would later drop out of the sport after failed attempts at getting her form back following a dip in performance.
She began competing at their track competitions again around 2012, for KDF. She returned to top-level competition in late 2015. Good performances at national cross country running meets culminated in her finishing third at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships. She was chosen for the 2016 African Cross Country Championships and in her senior debut, she took the silver medal as part of a Kenyan podium sweep with Alice Aprot and Beatrice Mutai. Later that year she won the 5000m at the Kenyan Athletics Championships and won her first senior title at the 2016 African Championships in Athletics, setting a championship record of 15:05.45 minutes.
