Kenya's bronze medallist wants to beat Semenya
Rio Olympic women's 800m bronze medallist Margaret Nyairera of Kenya said on Saturday that her dream this year was to beat South Africa's Olympic champion, Caster Semenya.
Nyairera, 21, who won the world junior championship title in 2014 held in Eugene, USA, said she had already embarked on serious training in her quest to wrest the world title from the South African.
“The Olympic Games marked my first time to compete against her. It was a remarkable experience during which I learnt she was a better runner than which has forced me to go back to the drawing board to look for a formula to turn the tables,” Nyairera told Xinhua during the Kenya Prisons Service championships held in Nairobi.
Nyairera, who anchored her team to first position in the newly-introduced 4x2km cross country relays, said she took part in the event to build speed and endurance.
“Semenya has endurance and speed with a very powerful finishing kick and in order to beat her, one must out-match those traits,” she said.
She said one should never fear to compete against better runners, but they should strive to beat them.
Nyairera, who is currently Kenya's top two-lap runner, has trained her sights on this year's World Athletics Championships scheduled for August in London, but before that, she will compete in a series of races overseas.
In her first international competition, Nyairera won gold at the World Junior Championships and later competed at the 2015 World Championships where she didn't advance beyond the heats.
She won a bronze medal at the 2016 World Indoor Championships and later a bronze medal during the 2016 Olympic Games where she set a personal best time of 1:56.89.
NAMPA/XINHUA
Nyairera, 21, who won the world junior championship title in 2014 held in Eugene, USA, said she had already embarked on serious training in her quest to wrest the world title from the South African.
“The Olympic Games marked my first time to compete against her. It was a remarkable experience during which I learnt she was a better runner than which has forced me to go back to the drawing board to look for a formula to turn the tables,” Nyairera told Xinhua during the Kenya Prisons Service championships held in Nairobi.
Nyairera, who anchored her team to first position in the newly-introduced 4x2km cross country relays, said she took part in the event to build speed and endurance.
“Semenya has endurance and speed with a very powerful finishing kick and in order to beat her, one must out-match those traits,” she said.
She said one should never fear to compete against better runners, but they should strive to beat them.
Nyairera, who is currently Kenya's top two-lap runner, has trained her sights on this year's World Athletics Championships scheduled for August in London, but before that, she will compete in a series of races overseas.
In her first international competition, Nyairera won gold at the World Junior Championships and later competed at the 2015 World Championships where she didn't advance beyond the heats.
She won a bronze medal at the 2016 World Indoor Championships and later a bronze medal during the 2016 Olympic Games where she set a personal best time of 1:56.89.
NAMPA/XINHUA
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