Nyahururu’s Veronica Maina to line up for Wuxi marathon this weekend

Nyahururu-based Veronica Maina will this weekend line up for the Gold Label Wuxi marathon in China with the hope of finishing on the podium.

She leaves today for ill be her fourth 42km race since making her debut in marathon last year.
The runner popularly known among her colleagues as Vero is returning to China after finishing 5th at the Xiamen marathon in 2:29:42 in January this year.

“I am going to China to seek to kill two birds with one stone – run to finish in podium position and also improve my PD,” she said after doing speed intervals at the Nyahururu stadium yesterday.

Her personal best (PB) in marathon is 2:26:41 set in Zurich in April last year where she took silver. This was her first marathon. Last November she finished second at the Istanbul marathon in Turkey in 2:27:24. Before venturing in marathon running, Vero had done seven half marathons where she recorded impressive times.

Since partnering with Mary Wacera in training, she has gained confidence.
Several other Nyahururu athletes are going to line in the men race at the Wuxi marathon on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim will go up against world indoor champion Hamish Kerr in a high jump clash in Suzhou on 27 May.

The global gold medallists will go head-to-head in the second Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season.

New Zealand’s Kerr is the world leader having cleared 2.36m to take his maiden global title at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow earlier this month and will have high hopes of backing it up against Barshim in May.

Qatar’s three-time world champion has prioritised training in the build-up to his Olympic title defence later this year, not competing since winning his third Asian Games title in October and skipping the championships where Kerr beat a high-class field. 

For Barshim, the event in Suzhou will be one of the key indicators of his form as he aims to become the first to ever win two men’s Olympic high jump titles.

No man in history has won more world outdoor titles than the three Barshim won in succession between 2017 and 2022, and he also claimed bronze in the most recent championships in Budapest.