Kamau on the big stage

By PATRICIA KEAMO
PAPUA New Guinea’s sprint sensation Leroy Kamau is set to compete in the 200m heats of the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary, tonight (8.50pm, PNG time).
The 24-year-old, whose personal best is 20.99 seconds, is in lane six of heat two with current world number one Noah Lyles of the USA in lane eight and world No.11 Jamaican Andrew Hudson in lane four.
Lyles, who took out gold in the 100m final on Sunday, is the favourite to win the 200m event and has a PB of 19.47 and with Hudson’s best at the distance being 20.11.
Kamau said it had always been his dream to compete with the world’s best and he looked forward to the challenge and experience.
“This is my first world championships apart from competing in the Commonwealth Games and other regional events, so my aim is to set a new personal best or do better than my last competition,” Kamau told The National yesterday.
“My last competition was the PNG Air National Athletics Championship (earlier this month) but it was an easy competition for me. This one is the big stage now so I have to be better, cut my time down and gain experience.”
Kamau’s best time in the 200m is just two hundredths of a second behind of the PNG national record of 20.97s held by Theo Piniau.
Each of the Oceania countries selected their top athlete for the World Championships and Kamau was nominated by Athletics PNG to participate at the Championships at Budapest.
Athletics PNG president Tony Green said Kamau was in good form this year and appeared likely to break the 200m national record during the United States season in April and May.
“Unfortunately most of his 200m races were in very windy conditions so most of his performances didn’t count for record purposes,” Green said.
“The clearest sign of his form was a superb 20.75 secs at the Junior College Nationals on May 18 with the aid of a following wind of +3.3 metres per second.
“His best legal time was a 20.99 clocked on May 5 and that remains his personal best.”
Kamau said his preparation for the world championships started a few months back after returning from the Oceania Cup in June.
“I knew I’d be selected for the World Championships so I returned to Port Moresby to train under my coach (Nelson Stone) while everyone (elite athletes) went to Goroka for national training camp at Goroka’s National Sports Institute,” he said.
“The recent nationals helped with my preparations. I was initially selected to run in the 100m event at the World Championships but it was later changed to 200m.
“I don’t have a lot of expectation as it’s been a long year for me.
“I just need to keep my form, continue training and make sure I’m injury free for the Pacific Games,” said Kamau.