Sprinter aims to set new record

SPRINTER Leroy Kamau says he aims to set a new record for himself and for Papua New Guinea while he is in the United States over the next two months for athletic meets.
Kamau, 21, of East New Britain and West New Britain, is part of the Nest Athletics Club run by retired sprinter Nelson Stone.
Under Stone’s coaching, Kamau has performed exceptionally, most notably during the West New Britain Athletics championship as well as the PNG Air National Athletics Championship last year.
In 2017, Kamau represented PNG at the Oceania Under-20 Championships in Fiji, which was his only representative experience.
After an absence from the sport during his final year of school in 2018, he returned to the track in the second half of 2019 and has been training under the guidance of Stone.
“I am a bit nervous and also under pressure that I’ll be living in another country and competing but I will give my best in the meets,” Kamau told The National yesterday before leaving for the US.
“I would like to thank my family, my coach Nelson Stone and my teammates at Nest and the people that helped supported me throughout my athletics career.
“Without them, I wouldn’t have made it this far.
“My goal is to set a new national record for PNG while I’m in the States.”
Kamau’s confidence and ambition stem from his performance in last year’s championship in West New Britain where he clocked the fastest time (21.15s) recorded in the 200m by a Papua New Guinean in the country.
Three weeks later, at the national athletics championships in Port Moresby, Kamau continued his form from Kimbe and dominated the sprint events, winning the 100m, 200m and 400m events.
Athletics PNG is now looking at what this promising sprinter will show them as he competes in the upcoming meets in the US.