Kenya’s athletics legends Richard Matelong and Wilfred Bungei have expressed varying opinions regarding Kenya’s overall performance at the World Championships in Budapest.

Kenya finished the competition in position five globally, topping the African chart after bagging 10 medals; three gold, three silver and three bronze medals.

However, there has been mixed reactions amongst athletics enthusiasts in the country with some claiming that Team Kenya’s show was below per.

Bungei, a 2008 Beijing Olympics 800m champion says as much as the athletes did their best for the country, they could have done better in Kenya’s ‘signature races such as the men’s 3000m steeplechase, men’s 800m, 1500m, 5000m men and especially the marathon for both men and women.

“The athletes did their best and something very interesting is that we had a number of youngsters competing and that shows the future looks good for Kenya since we have athletes that can be able to fill the shoes of the likes of Eliud Kipchoge and Faith Kipyegon,” Bungei told People Daily Sport.

The former World Indoor Champion also took issue with men’s failure to grab a single gold medal at the concluded championships something that has never happened since Kenya inaugural participation at the global biennial event in 1987.

“It is a concern absolutely to everybody who loves and understands what athletics has done to this country.

The men’s performance was really below average and that means we need to check on what is happening especially in the areas of youth development. I Understand that Athletics Kenya is trying its best in that area through Barnabas Korir who has been moving to schools to tap raw talents but again they need a lot of support.

“We should try to improve on the performance and not rely on a few athletes like Faith who brought us two gold medals whereas we have plenty of talent. Of course we give it  to Kipyegon because she is one of the most dedicated athletes and most disciplined. There were some races that we could have done well but we lost because of some certain mistakes.

I just hope individual athletes like Ferdinand Omanyala picked some lessons from Budapest. 

In my opinion, Omanyala had a big chance for a podium finish but I think he could have competed in a few races prior to the World Championships. If you look at Noah Lyles who won,he had run a few races before the Championships. I think it should be a lesson to the country and to individual athletes. They should prepare for the World Championships as if it is the only race that they have that year”, Bungei stated candidly.

Former steeplechaser Richard Mateelong who won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games was coy on putting the Kenyan athletes to the sword, saying the performance in Budapest was good compared to the last edition in Oregon where Kenya finished managed only two gold medals and finishing second in Africa, below neighbors and perennial rivals Ethiopia.

“Our boys and girls did well even when you compare the last Championships in Oregon. It was also tough even for Ethiopians and it is the nature of sports; you win and lose some. The lessons we pick are that we need to prepare well going into the competitions because we know that tasks ahead are huge and tend to favour the well prepared. We need to go back to the drawing board and get back to work on the issue of steeplechase, we must restore our pride in that event”.

Experienced athletics coach Stephen Mwaniki echoed the sentiments of Mateleelong that the competition was a notch higher for everybody especially for men and that Faith Kipyegon and Mary Moraa who won the gold medals were in their own class even before the competition.

He adds that it is difficult to explain what happened to some of the medal prospects for Kenya like Omanyala and Timothy Cheruiyot.

Coach Mwaniki further threw a jibe at Kenyans who are expecting more from the athletes whereas the investment on the sport in the country is less compared to other countries in Europe and beyond.