Venue shift for Kenya Olympic trials

The Athletics Kenya trials for the Tokyo Olympics will now be held at The Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani in Nairobi on June 17-19, and not in Eldoret as was initially scheduled.

In a press release, Athletics Kenya explained that the trials had been moved from Eldoret, where the federation even toured last Saturday, so that they can use the new venue as a test run for the highly anticipated World Athletics Under-20 Championships slated to take place in the country later on in August.

“The decision to move the trials to Kasarani has been necessitated by the need to test the systems and equipment at the stadium in readiness for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships on August 17-22 at the same venue,” the statement read.

Initially, the trials had been scheduled for the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret but that venue is now not going to be used as was planned before.

“Earlier, the trials had been set for the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret but after much deliberations and analysis of the current state of events, Moi Stadium seems an appropriate venue for the championships. Preparations for the Under-20 championships are ongoing and technical experts have advised that holding the trials at Kasarani will help assess the preparedness ahead of the arrival of World Athletics inspectors in July,” another part of the statement read.

The three-day event will only comprise of athletes who have thus far attained the qualifying mark for the Tokyo games and who have passed the anti-doping requirements by the federation.

“The trials still remain an invite-only event for those athletes who have thus far attained the qualifying mark for the Olympics in their respective races and fully meet the anti-doping requirements,”

The trials are scheduled for June 17 to 19, just a month away from the Olympic Games set to begin on July 23 in Tokyo.