African Games decathlon silver medallist Edwin Too hopes to make Team Kenya to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games following a dominant display at the Kenya Prisons track and field championships over the weekend.
Too cleared 7.84m to clinch the title. Tera Langat was second in 7.33m with Dominic Kibitok clearing 7.24m for third.
Too, 29, targets a ticket in the long jump, his strongest of the 10 events.
“My target is to qualify for the Olympics. I am working on long jump, which I feel I am good at,” Too said.
The Olympic qualifying mark for the men’s long jump is 8.27m. Too has a personal best of 7.90m set in January during the 3rd Athletics Kenya track and field meeting at the Nyayo Stadium.
Too hopes to hit the qualifying standard during the national championships slated for June 6-8 in Nairobi.
“I will use the national championships in June to try my luck with the Olympic mark. I also want to represent my country in Cameroon (African Championships),” he added.
The African Championships will be held on June 21-26 in Douala, Cameroon.
Too is inspired by his performances at the African Games in Accra, Ghana, in March.
“I gained invaluable experience at the African Games. I want to use the experience to qualify for the Olympics,” Too added.
He hit 7140 points to finish behind South Africa’s Fredriech Pretorius, who had 7550.
Too also grabbed the high jump and 110m hurdles titles at the Prisons championships.
He cleared 2m to beat Kelvin Maina and Dominic Kibitok, who tied at 1.75m to finish second and third respectively.
In the 110m hurdles, Too clocked 15.48m to beat Sammy Rugut (16.64m) and William Nyagaka (16.69m).
Too's biggest challenge at the Prisons' meeting was adverse weather.
“The weather wasn’t that good. We encountered a lot of rain in the morning but I persevered and won," he said.
