Yego hopeful of Olympics slot after winning gold in Douala

History making Julius Yego earned his fifth continental javelin title at the final day of Africa Championships on Wednesday with Kenya collecting 19 medals at the meeting in Douala, Cameroon.

African javelin record holder Yego is hoping luck will be on his side when the Olympics qualification window ends on June 30, after collecting maximum points in Finland and Douala within a week.

The former world champion was dreaming of grabbing the ticket to Paris Games when he descended on the field in Douala but his winning throw of 80.24m was short of the Olympics qualifying mark of 85.50m.

Yego, who won silver at the 2016 Olympics in Rio was, however, happy for making history after winning his fifth African title.

“It’s not mean achievement to win fifth Africa javelin title, it requires lots of determination and hard work to go to Africa championship and keep winning. But I’m satisfied with points gained in Finland last weekend that placed me in prime position to go to Paris.

“I’m now ranked 29th and the cut of number of athletes in men’s javelin is 32. With my performance in Cameroon, I hope I will again get ranked by the World Athletics based on points I got in Douala. It will help push me within top 20 in world ranking,” said Yego.

Kenya ended the championships with 18 medals of five gold, seven silver and seven bronze.

Brian Komen grabbed his second gold medal of the championships on the final day when he clocked 3:33.95 to win the men’s 1500m, ahead of Djibouti’s Ayanleh Abdi Abdillahi who timed 3:36.24 to collect silver.

Fellow countryman Boaz Kiprugut, bagged bronze after finishing third in 3:37.25. Leah Jeruto bagged bronze after finishing third in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase in 9:36.33. Front running Uganda’s Chekwemoi Loice ran away with gold clocking 9:24.47 as Ethiopian Alemnat Wale clocked 9:35.19 for silver.

There was one more silver for Kenya in the women’s 1500m where Caroline Nyaga clocked 4:06.76 to finish second. Ethiopian Sharon Berhe won the race in 4:06.05 as Ugandan Esther Chebet finished third in 4:06.90.

Asbel Kiprop won silver medal in men’s high jump with the Kenyan quartet of David Sanayiek, Kelvin Kipkorir, Zablon Ekwam and Boniface Mweresa leading the country to men’s 4x400m silver medal behind Botswana with Zambia taking home bronze.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s two-time world medallist Ese Brume became the first athlete to win four long jump titles in African Championships history.

Winning the crown three consecutive times – in 2014, 2016 and 2018 – had already propelled her into an exclusive class, and going one further at the Japoma Stadium consolidated her position as Africa’s best in the event.

Brume had missed the last edition of the championships held in Mauritius which was won by Burkina Faso’s Marthe Koala.