The pedigree of athletes who will be competing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games in the United States of America (USA) has already been defined.
The World Athletics entry standards for the premier show, which were published on Tuesday, paves way for only the fastest track athletes, field stars and marathon greats to compete in LA.
For Kenyan athletes and their coaches, the latest qualifying times would mean a shift in tactics and focus.
On Wednesday, a day after the 2028 LA qualifying standards were set, Kenyan athletes and tacticians described them as tough but achievable with superb plans.
An athlete such as world 5000m silver medallist Jacob Krop was still processing the reduction of the entry standards in his event from 13:05.00 for 2024 Paris Olympics to 12:50.00 for the 2028 competition.
Krop, who also has a world and Commonwealth bronze to his name, is 25 years old and could be in his prime in 2028.
He plans to transition to the 10,000m event from the next track season, although he will not entirely abandon 5,000m.
“The 2027 Diamond League series will be the defining moment for me because I will be looking to begin meeting the entry standards for both 5,000m and 10,000m. I am transitioning to the 10,000m but I will still maintain the 5,000m,” Kapenguria-based Krop said in an interview yesterday.
He said it would take individual efforts by athletes to achieve direct entry and improve their respective world rankings.
“It is possible for me to achieve the qualifying standards but it will take meticulous planning to attain them. It will take review of existing tactics and careful selection of events to take part in,” said Krop.
"Not all Diamond League meetings and other meets, for instance, favour faster speeds. I should begin to be mentally prepared from now and begin competing and testing my potential from next March.”
Emmaculate Jepkosgei, the winner of the Machakos Cross Country meet last month said achieving the standard will mean more speed work and endurance.
Jepkosgei, who runs 5000m on the track, said the cross country season will be part of her preparations for meeting the 14:34.00 entry standard, which will mean improving a 15:20.62 from Brussels in May.
“It is possible to achieve the qualifying standards but will require time. I am confident that competing in the local and international cross country races will help in building the needed endurance my coaches and management plan for the track season,” she said.
Former world javelin champion Julius Yego, in his analysis of the 2028 LA Olympics qualifying standards, said more local races that meet World Athletics thresholds will be an avenue for budding stars to meet the entry requirements.
Yego, a six-time African champion said upcoming athletes will find it difficult to achieve the standards given that most meets are staged in Europe and other continents.
“With only two track and field competitions in our country giving athletes a chance to get the qualifying standards or points, a selected few competing in the latter tournament, the only lucky ones who can get competitions outside Kenya in the diamond leagues circuit and other rankings events have a bigger chance of achieving these standards,” said Yego.
“It is better if the federation applies to World Athletics for some of our weekend meets to attain silver and bronze levels so that our athletes run official times. If we continue to normalise things as it has been, we will be sending very few athletes to World Championships and Olympic Games and other competitions.”
He said Kenyan athletes should be supported to undergo the mandatory three doping tests as required for Kenya which is in category A of World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) watch list.
Coaches and athletics legends also weighed in on the entry standards, calling for attention to ways that Kenyan athletes can qualify while at the same time selecting high calibre squads.
Sammy Bii, a Volare Sports coach in Iten said qualification standards for the marathon favours Kenya and Ethiopia, the two global giants in athletics, which dominate the sub 2:05 for men and 2:22 for women.
