Athletics: Champions Saina, Mucheru big doubts for London global championships

Racing against time for Worlds: Hurdler Mucheru and 10,000 runner Saina battling for fitness hoping for wild cards

Betsy Saina competes in the women's 10,000m finals during the National Olympics Trials on June 30,2016 at kipchoge Stadium, Eldoret.[PHOTO:DENNIS OKEYO/STANDARD]

Hurdler and 10,000 runner battling for fitness and hoping to bag wild cards.

Injured Olympic 400m hurdles silver medallist Boniface Mucheru and 10,000m athlete Betsy Saina are working around the clock to be fit ahead of the World Championships.

The two, who have confirmed missing out on the Kenyan trials this weekend, hope they will convince the selectors to give them wild cards should they perform extremely well at the Diamond meeting in Paris on July 1.

Mucheru said he has fallen behind his schedule and is struggling to get the pain out of his leg, which he injured in training. On the other hand, Saina, who represented Kenya at the 2015 World Championships and 2016 Rio Olympic Games, is battling a nagging Achilles injury Saina, who is based in the USA, said she has just returned to training and was hopeful, she will shake off the rust and be ready for the World Championships.

“I am excited to be health again. Today I did 11 miles run this morning, it has been a long journey but happy to be fully recovered. Let the training begin,” she said on Monday.

Mucheru, who is also the Africa 400m hurdles champion, wants three more races to gauge his preparedness and is hopeful he will have no problem making the Kenya team.

Only one athlete, world 400m hurdles champion Nicholas Bett, has run the required qualifying time and Kenya has the chance to name up to three athletes in the sprint hurdle event.

Another athlete seeking the required mark is Haron Koech. The qualifying mark has been set at 49.35 seconds. “I have been feeling pain deep inside the bones in both of my legs and the doctor hinted that it stems from the spikes I have been using since 2014,” said Mucheru.