IAAF world champs begin in Kenya

THE 10th edition of IAAF World Under-18 championships begin today with Zimbabwe’s Alfred Chawonza in action at Kasarani Stadium here. Zimbabwe will field seven athletes in the world meet for the rising stars and Chawonza will be the first athlete on track today in the 800m event. The 17-year-old, who qualified for the 2015 edition but could not compete because he was too young, believes his time is ripe.

“Now this is my only chance, the only chance I have to run World Youth since I am 17 already and also it’s the last World Youth edition ever, so it means a lot to come here.

“My objective is to be in the final of this competition and what happens in the final I will just go out there and be crazy, run over the top of my head and see what happens.

“It means a lot to me running World Championships.

“This means a lot to me and it means a lot to everyone who has been involved in my training and career starting from St George’s.

“There is a lot of stuff that’s happening behind me, people pushing, people paying a lot of money for me to be just here. So I can’t afford to let all these people down and I have to run smart race and be in the final and what happens in the final will be up to the day,” Chawonza said.

While his ultimate goal is to reach the finals at this event, Chawonza knows he has to go past today’s heats.

“Going into the race the main objective is getting into the semi-finals that’s like my main goal right now . . . Of course, I want to run the final but I still have to take care of business tomorrow (today),” Chawonza said. The top three from each heat and the next fastest four from the four heats progress to the semi-finals. Vimbai Maisvoreva, who also could not take part in 2015 because of age, joins Arage Mutombo tomorrow for the girls 800m seeking to give it their best.