World Champs U20: Ndangili battles injury to set new national record, personal best in race walk

Kenya’s Stephen Ngangili Kihu on Friday 30 August battled injury to his right leg on the way to a ninth-place finish in the men’s 10,000m race walk final at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru.

Despite missing out on a medal, the 18-year-old set a new U20 National Record as he cut the tape in a sensational time of 40:37.54.

The fast race which saw the first 17 finishers either set national records or personal bests, was won by Tunisia’s Rayen Cherni, who took gold having clocked a championships record time of 39:24.85.

Mexico’s Emiliano Barba and Italy’s Guiseppe Disabato completed the podium in second and third, clocking an area record of 39:27.10 and a national record time of 39:31.25 respectively.

Speaking after the race, former Africa U18 bronze medalist Ndangili said that his rhythm in the “fast and tough” race was affected after he was bumped thrice early on.

He said: “I thank God for this good race. I wanted to contain the race by sticking in front, but unfortunately, I was knocked on my shoulder, thigh and ankle that disabled my speed.”

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Ndangili noted that the “knocking” happened thrice and that he took “about 200m” to recover from the pain.

“I could not feel my right leg and had to slow down to contain myself, recover, then walk again,” he said. “Once I had recovered, my competitors had already walked a significant distance and it was difficult to overtake them.”

Ndangili however took delight in setting a new personal best and hopes that will aid in the quest for participating in next year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

“Above all the challenges, I have come out with my Personal best and a national under 20 record after shading off two minutes from the last event,” Ndangili, whose initial personal best stood at 42:01.45, said. “I feel grateful to have competed for my country and Africa, as we were only nine of us, and the only Kenyan on the track.”

In relation to competing in Japan next year, he added: “This is a gone case now, and I am looking forward to the World Championships next year. I know what happened here, and I am going to work on it properly before then.”