Race against time for Munguti in chase for Olympic Qualifying time
Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 22.06.24. | 08:10
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) athlete is 0.21 shy of hitting the 3:33.50 mark
Daniel Kyumbe Munguti’s chase for Olympic Qualifying time took the two-time World Cross-Country (relay) champion to the Irena Szewińska Memorial, Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium, Bydgoszcz where he raced to a lowly 3:38.52 on Thursday night.
The 29-year-old athlete clocked 3:35.80 at the Athletics Kenya national trials held on 14 and 15 June, finishing second for an automatic spot as per federation guidelines. He, however, has to hit the qualification time.
The dilemma for the athlete who has until 30 June to get the 3:33.50 qualifying time is whether AK would allow him to compete as he is one of the three Kenyan athletes qualified by world ranking, also an acceptable way of making it to the Summer Games.
Munguti managed fifth place behind Italian Federico Riva (3:36.37), Stefan Nillessen of the Netherlands (3:37.03), Ossama Melsek, also of Italy, who clocked 3:37.37, and Polish Filip Rak (3:37.60).
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) athlete is 0.21 shy of hitting the 3:33.50 mark, seeing as his season best is 3:33.71, the time he ran to finish third at the Kip Keino Classic.
Munguti, who had expressed optimism after the trials is hoping to use the remaining time to get the qualification but also hopes the selectors will give him a chance based on his ranking qualification.
His name, alongside others who have not attained the required mark but crossed the line in the top two as per AK requirements, were left out of the squad as the federation named the squad at the conclusion of the two-day national invite-only trials.
