Olympic champions, Walaza headline fields in Nairobi

Two-time former world champion javelin thrower Anderson Peters said on Friday he is working on his "rhythm" as he heads into the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, looking for his first win of the season.

The 27-year-old Grenadian, world champion in 2019 and 2022, also took bronze at the Paris Olympics.

But he has fallen short in back-to-back performances over the past three weeks, finishing third at both the Doha Diamond League and the Orlen Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Chorzow, Poland.

His best performance this season is 85.64m, recorded when he finished third behind Germany's Julian Weber (91.06m) and India's Neeraj Chopra (90.23m) in Doha.

On Saturday he will have the chance to improve on that in Nairobi where the meet forms part of the World Athletics Continental Tour.

"At the moment my personal goal is to get 87m. There's a long season to the world championships in Tokyo,and I am still working on my rhythm," said Peters at a news conference on Friday.

"Reaching the 90m is not a big deal as Weber and Chopra showed us in Doha, and hopefully I am getting there."

Peters is making his second appearance at the Kip Keino Classic having finished second in 2023 to the 2016 Olympic champion Thomas Roehler of Germany.

The two athletes will renew their rivalry as they compete alongside Kenya’s 2015 world champion Julius Yego and India’s Asian Games medallist Kishore Jena.

On the track, Kenyan sprint star Ferdinand Omanyala faces stiff competition from South African teenagers Bayanda Walaza and Shaun Maswanganyi as he aims to defend his 100m title for the third time.

The African record holder remains the standout in the one-day meet, despite several top Kenyan athletes opting out of the event.

Omanyala, who finished second behind South African sprinter Akani Simbine at last Sunday’s Rabat Diamond League, said he is determined not to repeat the mistake that dropped him to fifth place last year.

"I am thrilled with my performance in Rabat and I am looking forward to an even better race on Saturday," said Omanyala who holds the African record of 9.77secs.

The 19-year-old Walaza makes his Kenyan race debut fresh off winning a 4x100m relay gold medal at the recently concluded World Relays in Guangzhou, China.

This will be the sixth edition of the Kip Keino Classic, a competition that it a tier below the Diamond League.