‘Fantastic four’ set for athletics worlds

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain announced yesterday a small four-athlete team that will be going for gold at the World Athletics Championships 2022, which gets underway on Friday and continues until July 24 in Oregon, the US. Twelve of the Kingdom’s elite track and field stars qualified for the worlds either by achieving the entry standard for their discipline or by via their world ranking.

But only four of those athletes were named by the Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA) to the squad, with others unable to compete for various reasons.

The Kingdom’s quartet includes distance-running specialist Winfred Yavi, sprinters Edidiong Odiong and Aminat Jamal, and marathoner Shumi Dechasa. Winfred will be competing in the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase, and as a multi-titled athlete, is Bahrain’s chief medal hopeful in Oregon. Edidiong will run in the women’s 100 metres and 200 metres, while Aminat will contest the women’s 400 metres hurdles. Both Edidiong and Aminat also have a number of accolades on their resume at the highest levels of competition, and are also capable of stepping onto the podium at the worlds. On the distaff, Dechasa will be running in the men’s marathon.

Bahrain’s athletes will be among around 2,000 competitors from nearly 200 countries at the 10-day meeting. The national team delegation at the event is headed by BAA secretary general Yousef Ahmed and it includes national teams director Mohammed Abdulaziz.

Fastest

Winfred qualified for the women’s 3,000m steeplechase with a time of eight minutes 56.55 seconds—the fastest time in the world this year. She will be hoping to continue her impressive form on the biggest stage. Edidiong met the entry standard for both the 100m and 200m, clocking a mark of 11.05 seconds in the 100m and 22.43s in the 200m, which is a national record. Aminat qualified for her hurdles event via her world ranking, which is 48th with 1,181 points.

Dechasa booked his place for the men’s marathon after meeting the entry standard with a time of two hours six minutes 59 seconds. Among the key names missing from Bahrain’s squad is Kalkidan Gezahegne, who won a silver medal in the women’s 10,000m at last year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.

According to the BAA, she will not be competing due to injury. The others to have qualified but will not be at the worlds are Eunice Chumba, Birhanu Balew, Dawit Fikadu, John Koech, Marius Kimutai, Abdi Ali Gelelchu and Abdelrahman Mahmoud.