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Kenya’s disappointing performance in the men’s 10,000m at the Paris Olympics has left fans wondering if the omission of Daniel Ebenyo was a costly decision.
As Ethiopian runners exchanged leads before Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei stunned them to claim Olympics gold, Kenyans might have been wondering what might have been had Daniel Ebenyo been in the race.
Kenya was represented by Daniel Mateiko and Nicholas Kimeli and Bernard Kibet in the men’s 10,000m final on Friday but they were no match for Chepetegei and Ethiopian trio of Selemon Barega, Yomif Kejelcha and Berihu Aregawi.
The Ethiopians toyed with the rest of the cast as they took off early in a bid to burn them out and would exchange leads through the race until when it mattered most that Cheptegei’s finishing kick killed them off.
Cheptegei won the race in an Olympics record time of 26:43.14 followed by Aregawi (26.43.44) and American Grant Fisher, who clocked 26.43.46 for bronze.
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22:59 - 02.08.2024
Joshua Cheptegei destroys the field to win Olympics gold as Ethiopians see their gameplan collapse
Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei claimed Olympics gold in 10,000m after unleashing a devastating finishing kick to shock Ethiopian runners who had planned to lock the rest out of the podium.
The three Kenyans in the race had it rough with Kibet the best placed in fifth place as Mateiko (11th) and Kipkorir (14th) faded off.
The poor performance brought to the fore Athletics Kenya’s decision to opt against handing Daniel Ebenyo the third Olympics ticket for team Kenya in the race.
A combination of misfortunes conspired against Ebenyo and he ultimately missed out on a chance to feature at the Olympics.
Kenya’s trials for the 10,000m were held at the Prefontaine Classic, the Eugene Diamond League, in Oregon in May and Ebenyo arrived late owing to a visa delay and also tripped and fell during the race, ending up eighth, when only the first two across the line earned direct tickets.
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14:45 - 21.07.2024
Daniel Ebenyo hits out at Athletics Kenya for ‘not honouring’ Paris Olympics promise
Daniel Ebenyo has broken his silence since missing a chance to represent Kenya at the Paris Olympics and seems to blame Athletics Kenya for being dishonest.
Those tickets went to Mateiko and Kimeli and any hopes of Ebenyo earning the third and final one from the Athletics Kenya panel of selectors went up in smoke when they settled on Kibet, who was third in Eugene.
Ebenyo had complained how Athletics Kenya let him down and failed to honour their promise to him.
“From visa hitches, arriving at the trials late and I did not have enough time to recover. I arrived in the evening and the trials took place the following day,” Ebenyo told K24 TV last month.
"Athletics Kenya did not tell me anything and even up to now, no one from AK has spoken to me. I have never understood how they came to the conclusion.”
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22:40 - 25.05.2024
Daniel Mateiko floors bigwigs to win men's 10,000m at Prefontaine Classic & qualify for Olympics
Little-known Daniel Mateiko will be the talk of the town following his tactical run to win the men's 10,000m at the Prefontaine Classic and automatically qualify for a maiden appearance at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
His coach Erick Kogo also weighed in. “They had promised him an Olympics ticket even if he did not get a visa to the United States but when he tripped and fell, no one considered him again,” Kogo told the network.
“AK should have considered that the athlete went through several challenges. The panel did not do something good because his fall really left me heartbroken. We had done enough preparations but he had a lot of problems with his travel arrangements.”
Ebenyo had raced against Cheptegei and finished second at the 2023 World Championships. That, added to his silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and World Half Marathon, made him Kenya’s best bet to take on the Ugandan and Ethiopians, hence the feeling that Kenya left its best runner over the distance home.
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