Hard luck for Team Kenya at Debswana

Kenya will only send one team, the 4x400m mixed relay, to the World Athletics Championships 2027, in Beijing, after none other qualified for the global event on Sunday, even though Ferdinand Omanyala led a men's team of 4× 100 m who bettered their national record to 38.27, beating the previous 38.35, which was set during the World Relays in Guangzhou, China, 2025.

The concluded global event, Debswana World Athletics Relays at the Gaborone National Stadium, Gaborone in Botswana.

Kenya saw its Sunday narrowly missing out on automatic qualification for the 2027 Beijing World Athletics Championships after finishing third in the men’s 4x100m relay, despite setting the new national record, as China and Ghana finished first and second, respectively, to secure automatic qualification.

However, all is not lost because by finishing in the top six, Kenya has officially qualified for the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship, a new global event, regarded as a season finale for the world’s best athletes, which will be held in Budapest, Hungary, from September 11–13, 2026.

Omanyala's team includes Mark Odhiambo, Ronald Kiprono, and Meshack Babu.

They broke the previous national record of 38.35 seconds, which was set during last year’s World Relays in Guangzhou, China, by the quartet of Omanyala, Meshack Babu, Steve Onyango Odhiambo, and Boniface Mweresa.

Elsewhere in the men’s 4x400m qualifiers, a fall in the third-leg saw Kenya miss out on a World Championship slot, after finishing sixth in the first heat.

Dennis Masika and Danson Kibet ran the opening two legs, but were dealt a big blow when Erastus Mbaluka fell during the first phase of his run, leaving Kevin Kipkorir a huge mountain to climb in the anchor leg, hence crossing the finish line over five seconds behind Germany in fifth, clocking 3:07.71.

The women’s 4x400m team, comprised of Lanoline Aoko, Hellen Syombua, Margaret Naserian, and Mourine Nanjala, could also not get through their qualifiers, even though they clocked a season best time of 3:32.24 to finish in fourth place.

In the mixed 4x100m, Kenya’s team of Moses Onyango Wasike, Milcent Ndoro, Dennis Mwai, and Eunice Kadogo could only finish sixth in heat one, in a time of 41.84, efforts that were also not enough to qualify for Beijing in 2027, even though on Saturday, the same team had given Kenyans hope for clocking a new national record of 41.38 in their heat.