by Deji OgeyingboThis is a piece by Deji Ogeyingbo. Deji wanted to do a piece on Five big wishes that he has for African Athletics. I think all have a good chance of happening, givent the high quality of African athletes and the continuing interest of African fans.
Which of his five big wishes did Deji get right in this article?
Let us know at runblogrun@gmail.com.
The NN Running team, photo by NN Running team
Five big wishes for African Athletics in 2022
After the Olympics delivered a spectacle in Tokyo last year despite the world still trying to move on from the pandemic, this year is set to be a major one for African athletics.
With the World Indoors, World Outdoor Championships, Commonwealth Games, and Diamond League leading the way of major championships that African athletes will compete in 2022, there are huge hopes that they can hug the headline in these events.
Here are some of the five big wishes for African Athletics over the next 12 months.
1. An African Championships to finally hold this year
The African Championships is the flagship event for athletics in Africa and granted, the pandemic had put a spanner in the works of it taking place in 2020, unlike most major competition that got rescheduled to 2021, the African Champs did not materialize.
The city of Lagos almost came to its recure early last June, just in time for the end of the Tokyo Olympic qualification deadline. However, like with most situations in Africa, the internal wranglings within the Nigerian athletics hierarchy scuffled the plans.
The last time the championships took place in Asaba, Nigeria in 2018, the results were not rectified by World Athletics after issues with the timer. Five years after it was hosted in Durban, South Africa, one hopes that the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) can finally get it right this year.
Although Oran in Algeria has already been penciled down to take up the mantle this year, in what is already a chock-full of championships such as the World Champs in Oregon, Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and European Championships coming up this summer, it remains to be seen how CAA will converge the best of African track stars together.
2. A men’s 100m Champion at the World Championships
Since the World Championships began in 1983 in Helsinki, all the men’s 100m Champions can be said to have African Heritage, but none ever represented an African Nation.
Granted the Americans and Jamaicans have held siege to the crown for almost two decades now, it’s rather startling that Africa is yet to produce a medalist nor a champion at the World Champs considering its wealth of talent in recent times.
South Africa’s Akani Simbine has been one to throw the cat amongst the pigeons in global championship finals in the five years. In all the finals he’s reached in those years, he usually comes unstuck as he’s yet to make a podium finish.
Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala picked up the mantle of the fastest man in Africa tag from Simbine last year when he blitzed to a 9.77s clocking in his homeland last fall, a time that made him the eighth fastest man in history. Although he could only manage a semifinal place at the Tokyo Olympics, there are strong indications that he might cause an upset in Oregon this year.
It might be too early to call for Nigeria’s Enoch Adegoke, who joined the sub-10 club in 2021 and reached the Olympics final. The diminutive sprinter looks the part. With a lot of consistency this year and barring injury he could surely be in contention this year.
Ultimately, there’s hope that things could change this year.
3. Kipchoge or Bekele or any other African to run an official sub-two-hour marathon
Since 2003, an African has always held the men’s marathon record. Granted the dominance on the event from the East Africans is famed, there is a feeling that a glass ceiling has been reached in running a sub-two-hour marathon.
The current marathon record holder, Eluid Kipchoge achieved the feat when he clocked 1:59:40 in Austria in 2019, but it wasn’t recognized as the Kenyan ran under conditions that had been painstakingly and exclusively arranged to push him beyond the two-hour barrier.
Regardless, that moment highlighted the possibilities of Kipchoge who also holds the official record at 2:01:39. Prospects that most observers have said if put in the right conditions and running on a fast racecourse can put him on the right trajectory to run inside two hours.
On the other side of the spectrum of possibilities is Kenenisa Bekele. The Ethiopian produced the second fasted performance over the marathon in Berlin 2019 when he was just two seconds shy of Kipchoge’s previous record.
Both Kipchoge and Bekele have had their fair share of epic battles during their track years, but since they both switched the road racing, they haven’t locked horns. There is an inkling that they can push each other to run the sub-two-hour marathon, but the question remains if they will ever make it happen.
The World Championships in Oregon is a perfect chance for these two greats to collide as the stage is well set for them to have a go. The likes of Sisay Lemma and Tamirat Tola could well have a crack at it and produce something special, but it is Bekele and Kipchoge who seem delicately poised to surprise us this year.
4. An African country to top the medals table at the World Championships
Kenya has proven to be a powerhouse in athletics over the last few decades and rubbing shoulders with some of the best countries in the world has oftentimes proved a tough task, but they sure know how to pick a battle.
After surprising the athletics world by topping the medals table in 2015, it’s about time an African country wins it. Although the United States of America has dominated the championships by winning all but six of the editions Kenya has proved they can get to the top if they get their act together.
Aside from getting it right with both the middle- and long-distance events, they now seem to be getting their acts right in the sprints, and if they can put all the pieces together in Oregon, there will certainly be no stopping them.
5. Another domination for African athletes at the World Junior Championships in Cali
The World U20 championships that took place in Nairobi last year showed that Africa is catching up with the rest of the world in athletics at such a fast pace. Of the top ten countries on the medals table, half of them were African countries with Kenya leading the way with the 16 medals they scooped on home soil.
Heading into Cali this year, there is a strong possibility that very little changes. Call it a silver lining and you won’t be wrong, as 16 champions of the 40 from Nairobi are still eligible to compete this year. The good news? 10 of them are Africans.
It shows the future is bright and proving that the win in Nairobi in 2021 wasn’t a fluke will be a good place to ensure the continent is taken seriously long term.
