Syombua chasing Olympic dream

With the rescheduled Olympic Games barely five months away, Hellen Syombua is seeking to hit top form as she eyes to make her debut at the largest sporting extravaganza set for Tokyo, Japan.

Syombua, the national 400m record holder enjoyed a stellar season in 2019 where alongside anchoring Kenya’s team to a bronze medal in mixed relay at the World Relay Championships, she also earned a slot to compete at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

A nagging injury would however slow her down first at the African Games in Rabat before she also suffered the same fate at the Worlds where she failed to progress past the preliminaries.

With Covid-19 having disrupted sporting activities last year, Syombua is now building her momentum as she eyes the delayed Games set to kick off on July 23 at the Japanese capital.

The 23 year old whose mark of 51.09 is the fastest in the country over a lap, raced to victory in 400m at the opening leg of Athletics Kenya weekend meeting.

“I started my build up late but as at now I am picking up well and I hope I will keep improving in the remaining meetings. As a sprinter it requires hard work to qualify for major competitions and that is why we have to start preparations early,” said Syombua.

For Syombua, the Summer Games will provide her with an opportunity to not only represent her country but compete against the world’s best.

“My target is to make it to the finals at the Olympics. I know it is very competitive even to reach semis won’t be easy,” she said.

Syombua will also be seeking to make the cut in the Kenya’s team for the World Relays championships set for Poland in May with the trials set for March 26-27.

At the same time, Syombua revealed her intentions to test herself over the 800m race with the possibility of switching to the two-lap race in the near future.

“I am planning to compete in the 800m race in the next meetings. I will then assess my performance and decide what is good, either to shift or remain in my speciality,” she said.

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Athletics Kenya Hellen Syombua

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