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L. MathekaSawe chasing Olympics slot
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Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 03.06.21. | 16:33
His search for Olympics qualifying mark is likely to take him to Rome next week.
Africa high jump champion Mathew Sawe has intensified his training at the Nyayo National Stadium as he looks to beat his personal best jump of 2.30 and ensure automatic qualification to the Tokyo Olympics.
The athlete has been out of action since competing at the World Athletics Continental Tour in October 2020 until he took part in the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) annual meet held on May 17 to 19, finishing first with a 2.20 jump.
"I was afraid when I started, so I only used to jump over a small bar. But when I realised this cannot break my body, I started going higher."
— SPIKES (@spikesmag) September 10, 2019
How Kenya's Mathew Sawe defied the odds to become one of the world's best high jumpers: https://t.co/UjMU9sPpKd pic.twitter.com/QBkXOJZ6Yg
Two weeks later, he improved on that height as he won the Athletics Kenya (AK) Olympics pre-trial with a 2.25m jump to finish ahead of training mate Asbel Kiprop.
“We have been out of action for long and my body is just getting back to competition mode. The two jumps are not as bad but I know I can do better and get automatic qualification to the Olympics. From the rankings, I feel that my 2.30m jump at the Africa Championships will qualify me for the Games but I have to wait until June 25 to be sure. I, therefore, am targeting 2.32 and better in the national trials to be sure,” said Sawe.
32 year old Mathew Sawe is a field athlete who competes in High-Jump. He reached international level in 2012 where he competed in the African Championship and won the Bronze medal. #ijumphigh #myzoeziin100days #WAU20Nairobi21 #myyouthexperienceisathletic #KaribuKenya pic.twitter.com/4UuVqREPya
— World Athletics Under20 Nairobi 2021 (@WAU20Nairobi21) May 10, 2021
The 32-year old reached international level in 2012 when he competed in the African Championship and won bronze. His breakthrough came in 2015, when he won the 2015 national trials with a national record. A jump of 2.21m brought him the gold at the 2016 African Championships. This made him the first Kenyan to win this title. Sawe managed to retain his title at the 2018 African Championships and later on became the Silver Medalist at the 2019 African Games.
“I am likely to compete in Rome on June 10 but that is yet to be confirmed. However, my target is to do well at the Olympics trials,” Sawe offered.
