Personal Best for Mpoke as indoor season begins

Fast-rising Kenyan hurdler Moitalel Mpoke seems to have put his woes that saw him miss the Tokyo Olympics for an alleged doping violation behind him as he clocked a personal best by .01 to finish third in the 600m race in Texas over the weekend.

The Texas A&M men's and women's track and field teams opened the indoor season setting multiple all-time marks, including Brandon Miller, who set an under-20 600m all-time world best.

In the 600m race, Mpoke led Miller in the first lap but the latter took control of the race completing the first 400m in 49.06. The 2021 NCAA outdoor 800m runner-up, continued to show his dominance as he finished the 600m race at 1:15.49.

His time bettered Mohammed Aman's 1:15.60 of Ethiopia, proving to be an under-20 indoor 600m all-time world best. Mpoke placed third overall at 1:16.92, an all-time personal best by .01.

Texas A&M takes a break from competition before hosting the Ted Nelson Invitational on Jan. 14-15 at the Gilliam Indoor Stadium.

Mpoke who won silver medal as Kenya hosted the World Under-18 Championships in 2017 punched his Tokyo Olympics ticket with a 48.89 performance in NCAA 400m hurdles. 

"(Sic) I am so sorry I can’t compete at Tokyo Olympics 2021 even though I have been preparing well despite all the challenges I went through towards this event and I met qualifying Olympic standards. I also went through the three tests as required and send them (AK) the results but the issue is they claim they sent World Antidoping Agency to my house to get tested and I am very sure nobody came because I was at my house preparing for my final exam and didn’t receive any call at all. I am very disappointed. Hopefully, I will see you all next season,” Mpoke had taken to social media to explain his predicament when it emerged he would miss the Summer Games. 

The athlete had undergone all the doping tests but Athletics Kenya had insisted he had to have been tested by their approved labs.