Kenyas walking race champion hopeful of Rio gold

Kenyas walking race champion hopeful of Rio gold

Walking race maestro Grace Wanjiru Njue is confident of a gold medal in the upcoming Olympics finals in Rio Brazil.

The three-time African Champion and Commonwealth Games medalist will enter the competition on a high as she automatically qualified after clocking 1 hour, 30 minutes and 43 seconds in the African Athletic championships in Durban South Africa.

Wanjiru will be making her first shot in Olympic at Rio in August.

“It was my prayer that I qualify for my first ever Olympic Games considering the performance I put up in Durban,” she said.

Wanjiru is the current African record holder in the walk race with 1:34:19 clocking in 2010 during the African Championships in Nairobi after beating South Africa’s Susan Varmaelen’s previous record of 1:36:18 that was set in 1999.

She has, however, expressed her concerns over the poor state of training grounds in Kenya.

“The training grounds in the rural areas are poor and it is my hope that the government will do something about it to motivate young talents.”

She also hopes that her performance will inspire many considering the fact that the event has few participants locally.

“At the international level, the competition in the event is stiff unlike here in Kenya where very few participate in it.”

Report by John Njuguna

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