Mercy Koech competes in the 4x100m women's finals during the World Athletics Relays Trials at Nyayo Stadium on April 12, 2025.
[File, Standand] The country’s squad to the World Athletics Relays, the first ever to be hosted on the African continent, finished without a medal but secured a ticket to next year’s World Championships in Beijing, China.
The World Relays action, which was staged in Gaborone, Botswana, came to a close last evening.
Kenya had high hopes of a medal in the hotly contested mixed 4x400m relay.But the country’s quartet of Mercy Oketch, David Sanayek, Mercy Chebet, and Brian Tinega finished fourth.
Kenya had bagged bronze in the 4x400m at the 2025 World Relays in Guangzhou, China.
In the finals last evening, the Kenyan team clocked 3:09.93 in the mixed 4x400m, won by the USA in 3:07.47.
Jamaica and Great Britain took silver and bronze in 3:08.24 and 3:09.84, respectively.
Kenya had qualified for the finals and a ticket to the 2027 World Championships in Beijing, China, on day one.
So much was still at stake before last evening’s finals as teams battled for tickets to Beijing27 and the final of the World Relays.
However, Kenyan teams that had hopes of bagging medals bowed out of the competition just moments before the finals.
Africa’s fastest 100m sprinter, Ferdinand Omanyala, anchored his compatriots to a season best in the men’s 4x100m and settled for third place in the last qualifying round yesterday.
Despite not making the final, the quartet of Omanyala, Mark Otieno, Ronald Kiprono, and Meshack Babu, which had placed fifth in the qualifying round 1 on Saturday, improved their position to third.
Omanyala said he was content with the performance of his team.
Their Heat was won by China in 37.85, which was a season best.
They were followed in second place by Ghana, which recorded 38.09.
“That was a good run.
