Officials from World Athletics in the country to assess progress made by Kenya ahead of 2020 World Under-20 Championships

FILE: Sports CS Amina Mohammad led the Local Organizing Committee chairman Jackson Tuwei, event’s chief executive Mike Rabar, KU Vice Chancellor Prof Paul Wainaina among other officials inspecting the state of preparedness ahead of world under-20 championships

A delegation of 19 officials from the World Athletics on Tuesday jetted in the country to assess progress made by Kenya ahead of the 2020 World Under-20 Championships set to be held in Nairobi in July. 

The officials drawn from various departments at the World Athletics and their partners are expected to inspect the progress made so far by the Organizing Committee in preparing for the championship.

This will be World athletics’ third visit for inspection having visited twice last year. Organising Committee (OC) chief executive officer, Myke Rabar said the officials will have day-long meetings today and tomorrow with the various departments within the Organising Committee.

World Athletics officials with members of the Local Organising Committee on arrival today [photo courtesy]

They are expected to be engaged with various departments for the entire day Wednesday and Thursday before flying back.

Rabar noted that the visit will inspire the committee to launch the final phase of the preparations and have everything rolling on time.

“This visit is extremely important for Kenya and will effectively kick off the final leg of our preparations to host yet another successful global competition,” said Rabar.

The delegation that arrived in batches on Tuesday include—Matt Hartfree (event presentation team), Zacharias Vailakis (press Operations manager), Olaf Brockmann (press delegate), Gemma Castano (technical delegate), Florian Weber (event presentation manager), Luca Sperotti (technical suppliers - deltatre), Jan Zmek (Dentsu), Luis Saladie (head of competitions management), Jeff Chelpi (event operations coordinator) and Fanny Boquillet (head of planning & strategy).

Officials from World Athletics in the country to assess progress made by Kenya ahead of 2020 World Under-20 Championships [photo courtesy]

Others are Lavinia Maffia (partnerships manager), Imre Matrahazi (technical delegate), James Lord (director of broadcasting), Fred Sanchez (broadcasting manager), Maria Ramos (brand & marketing), Gareth Raw (systems and cybersecurity manager), Phil James (technical suppliers - Seiko), Mark Fulton (WA production/live sports producer/director), Sue Hellewell (WA head of production).

Kenya won the bid to host the World Under-20 Championships following a largely successful World Under-18 Championships held in 2017 with a record turnout of over 60,000 fans attending the event at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.