Kenyans continue to shine at African U20 and U18 Championships in Abidjan

George Manangoi displays his 1500m gold medal at the IAAF World U-20 Championships in Tampare, Finland. [Dennis Okeyo, Standard]

Stylish Kenyan juniors continued with its well-executed performance on Wednesday at the ongoing African U20 and U18 Championships in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, winning eight medals at the championships.  

World under-18 and under-20 1500m champion George Manangoi continued with his impressive performance in junior ranks when powered his way to victory to win his third international career silverware.

Manangoi, brother to Elijah Manangoi, the world 1500m world champion took top honours ahead of compatriot Dickson Lesia who wins silver in men’s under-20 1500m finals.

Zenah Chemutai, a Kenya Certificate of Primary School (KCPE) candidate at Keringet Board School turned on style to cross the line in 9:13.23 to bagged another gold medal in girl’s under-18 3000m as another Kenyan Deborah Jemutai (9:42.42) wins silver ahead of Ethiopian Amare Berhetehe (9:14 72) who settled for bronze.

The 2017 World Under-18 400m silver medallist Mary Moraa produced a solid performance to get a top podium finish in women’s under-20 400 finals.

 In the under-20 1500m women’s final, Ednah Jebitok collected silver medal timing 4:13.02 ahead of her countrywoman Mercy Cherono who clocked 4:15.95 to win bronze. Ethiopian Diribe Kejelcha won gold in 4:11. 59.

Linda Kageha making her first international outing with national team timed 52 .52 seconds to win silver in girls under-18 400 race. Nigerian Favour Ofili dug deep to win the race in 52.27 seconds. Ghanaian Grace Obuor won bronze.

Meanwhile, IAAF has released a comprehensive guide to sports nutrition designed to offer athletes the latest information on fueling their training and performance.

The IAAF Consensus Statement on Nutrition for Athletes, published in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, includes a summary of the latest scientific developments relevant to athletes and 16 articles on different facets of sports nutrition. 

Led by Lindy Castell from Green Templeton College at Oxford University and Louise Burke, the Head of Sports Nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sport, a team of 50 experts looked at a range of new developments in sports nutrition to see how they apply to the five core areas of athletics: sprints, jumps/throws/combined events, middle distance, long distance and ultradistance/mountain running. Their findings, divided into 12 key themes, form the backbone of the report.

“Sports nutrition is a dynamic and constantly evolving science,” Burke said. “The 2019 IAAF Consensus Statement on Nutrition for Athletics updates athletes, coaches and their entourage about changes in the knowledge and practice of nutrition for performance and health over the past decade.”

In the wake of similar studies conducted in 1995 and 2007, Burke said, the IAAF Health and Science Department charged a group of international experts to summarise cutting edge science and its translation into practice across all the event groups in athletics.

Medalist so far

 Under-18

3000m

Zenah Chemutai   - Gold

Deborah Jemutai   - Silver

400m

 Linda Kageha – Silver

1500m

Janet Nyiva – Silver

1500m

Vincent Keter – Gold  

Peter Kibui – Bronze

Under-20

1500m

George Manangoi – Gold

Dickson Lesia – Silver

400m

Mary Moraa – Gold

1500m

Ednah Jebitok – Silver  

Mercyline Cherono – Bronze

10,000m

Bravin Kiptoo   - Gold

Emmanuel Korir – Silver

3000m

Immaculate Anyango – Silver