Samuel Gathimba has made his home country proud after bagging a bronze medal in the men’s 20-kilometre walk in the ongoing Common Wealth games in Gold Coast, Australia.
On Sunday, Gathimba clocked one hour, nineteen minutes and fifty one seconds (1:19:51) and came in third position.
Australia’s Dane Bird-Smith bagged the gold medal in the same walk after clocking 1:19:34 while Tom Bosworth from England bagged the Silver medal after clocking 1:19:38.
Speaking to the press after finishing the walk race, Gathimba said the bronze medal will inspire more Kenyan to join walk racing.
“I’m very proud. It was very tough but I did my best. My technique was good, and I love road walking. This medal will be good for all Kenyan race walking,” he said as quoted by Nairobi News.
He said he is bracing up for his second championship to be held in Nigeria in July.
Another Kenyan who was in the race, Simon Wachira did not make it after clocking 1:26:33 and came in at 12th position.
Edward Zakayo, another Kenyan, bagged a bronze medal after finishing third in the finals of men’s 5000 metres race at Carrara Stadium in record time of 13 minutes, 50.83 seconds
Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei bagged a Gold medal in this race while Canadian Ahmed Mohammed bagged a Silver medal in the same with a record time of 13 minutes, 52.73 seconds.
This Zakayo’s second major victory after the Silver medal he won in last year’s IAAF under 18 Championships held in Nairobi.
Two other Kenyans in the same race, Nicholas Kipkorir and David Kiprotich did not make it as they came in a distant 9th and 11th position respectively.
Zakayo, a Form Three student at mad Kapsait Secondary School said: “We had planned to attack Cheptegei as a team but on the last lap, when I looked behind, I didn’t see anyone and that’s when I attacked but it was too late.”