Team Kenya will converge for residential training on Sunday, August 3, 2025 as they begin final preparations for the upcoming World Athletics Championships that are set for Tokyo, Japan in September.
With less than two months until the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Kenya has named a 58-member squad headlined by three-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon and rising men’s 800m star and Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi.
The roster was finalised following the conclusion of national trials in Nairobi last week, where more than 150 elite athletes from across the country competed for a place at the biennial event.
Several current world record holders, including Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet, will lead the team. They are joined by a new generation of African champions and U20 world titleholders aiming for breakthrough performances at the global stage.
Athletics Kenya also confirmed that marathon great Eliud Kipchoge, 40, has voluntarily opted out of the championships to allow younger athletes greater opportunity on the global stage.
According to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) 1st vice president Barnaba Korir, all middle and long-distance runners will converge at the renowned Kipchoge Keino Kazi Mingi Farm in Eldoret, while sprinters will initially pitch camp in Nairobi.
The World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, from September 13-21, 2025, is set to embark on a crucial residential training camp starting August 3. The intensive preparation aims to fine-tune the athletes for the global showpiece.
Korir revealed that NOCK is actively engaged in discussions with the government to secure funding that would allow the sprinters to travel to Miramas, Marseille, France, for an advanced residential training camp.
“We are in discussion with the government; if funds will be available, we will send the sprinters to Miramas; if not, we will have a plan B,” said Korir. The sprint team will be led by Ferdinand Omanyala the 100 metres record holder.
The current squad of 58, is expected to grow as the August 24th qualification deadline for track and field events approaches.
“We have two more athletes who are expected to qualify in the men’s 5000m by the deadline, so the team will grow,” Korir explained to members of the press.
Kenya is hoping to surpass its fine performance at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where the team finished 5th on the medal log with a total of 10 medals: three gold, three silver, and four bronze.
