Kwamboka strikes gold in Africa meeting

Athletes fight for 10,000m honours at the African Senior Athletics Championships in Douala, Cameroon on Monday. [AK Media]

National champion Gladys Kwamboka timed her race to perfection on the fourth day of CAA Athletics Championship in Duoala, Cameroon on Monday in women’s 10,000m finals to win Kenya’s third gold medal at the championship.

Kwamboka clocked 34:37.43 to clinch gold with compatriot Rebecca Mwangi who did much of the front running settling for silver while Gela Anbessa of Ethiopia finished third.

“Despite the weather, we worked as a team to ensure we won the race. We knew our main challengers will be Ethiopia and we are glad we handled them well,” said Kwamboka.

On her part, Mwangi who narrowly missed out on medal position in women’s 5000m on the opening day of the continental championships said: “I didn’t want to take chances at all after what had opened on day one of the championships where I thought I had secured silver medal only to lose at the finish line. I’m contented with silver medal here and happy that we secured 1-2.”

Kwamboka’s victory took gold medal tally to three for Kenya in the continental showpiece, following Sarah Moraa and Alex Ng'eno, who harvested the country's other two titles in the men and women's 800m.

Meanwhile, Olympics Games hopeful Brian Komen is promising good results as he takes on the men’s 1500m field in final today.

Komen who is on standby for Olympics in case trials second place finisher Kyumbe Munguti fails to secure qualification standard will carry the national flag alongside experienced Boaz Kiprugut.

“Missing out on automatic qualification for the Olympics has motivated me to do well well in Duoala, I’m going for nothing less than gold medal. I’m in good shape and I’m ensuring Kenyans of good show on the final day of the championships,” said Komen.