World-class throwers confirmed for Kip Keino Classic

Kip Keino Classic meet director Barnaba Korir has confirmed the participation of Olympic hammer throw champion Camryn Rogers and reigning men’s javelin bronze medalist Anderson Peters in this year’s one-day event, set for Saturday, 31 May, at the Nyayo National Stadium.

Speaking in an interview with Capital Sports, Korir confirmed the development, adding that the organising committee is locked in negotiations to invite more elite athletes to spice up the event.

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“There are more athletes we are talking to, looking to invite them for the Classic, especially for the sprints. We are hoping to have some Jamaicans come and compete with Ferdinand Omanyala in what we expect to be a one-of-a-kind race,” he said.

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Rogers, making her debut at the World Continental Tour Gold event in its sixth edition, brings a trail of wins and major achievements to the competition.

She is yet to open her season in 2025, with her last registered competition being the 76.97 Olympics-winning throw in August 2024.

The 25-year-old has had a stellar career, winning the 2017 Pan American U20 Championships in Trujillo, Peru, and the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, before making her senior international debut, placing sixth in the hammer event at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, she advanced to the final of the hammer throw event, the first Canadian woman ever to do so, and finished fifth.

She made her World Athletics Championships debut at the 2022 edition in Eugene, Oregon, going on to settle for silver.

In her second major international championship of the season, Rogers was part of the Canadian team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She managed a distance of 74.68 m, breaking the Commonwealth Games record previously held by fellow Canadian Sultana Frizell to win.

Rogers improved her silver from Eugene to gold, lifting the 2023 World Athletics Championships title in Budapest to become the second Canadian woman to win gold at the World Athletics Championships, after Perdita Felicien's 2003 hurdles title.

Competing in the Olympic hammer throw, she won gold, the first for a Canadian woman in track and field in 96 years. The two previous wins had come at the 1928 Summer Olympics, which saw women's athletics debut at the Olympics, as well as the first Canadian medal in women's hammer throw.

Meanwhile, Peters is a household name in javelin courtesy of his crowded medal collection. The 27-year-old boasts two titles from the 2019 and 2022 World Championships in Doha and Eugene, respectively, to add to the bronze and silver he won at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and Birmingham.

At the Paris Olympics, he bagged bronze thanks to an overall score of 88.54m. The Grenadian will be featuring at the Kip Keino Classic for the second time. His debut was in 2023, when he finished second courtesy of a throw of 85.72m.