PARIS, France, Aug 5 – It’s one thing to step on to the track at your first Olympics, but it’s another to execute your pre -race plan with thousands of fans bringing on their best cheering game to the stands.
Kenya’s only representative in the 400m Men Hurdles race Wiseman Were is elated to have been able to stick to his strategy to be able to sail through to the Semi-Finals.
“My race went according to plan and that’s something to celebrate, I did not make any mistakes. My plan was to get through to the next round and take it from there,” Were said after getting into the semis as one of the fastest.
Were took to the track at the Stade de France in the first event of the morning on day 5 of the track and field action in Paris.
Lining up in Heat 4 of the one lap and barrier race, he was comfortable from take off regulating his energy appropriately before seemingly dropping it with a few meters to go to finish 5th in 48:58 seconds.
He had to go through the agony of waiting trackside for the last Heat of the day to find out if he had qualified via the fastest non-automatic times route and luckily that was particular heat was the fastest of the day.
“It’s all about the race execution but for now I want to just focus on my mindset and on showing up in the semi final with a well put together race plan.” Adding that “The Olympics is a high-pressure event, everyone is coming in very well prepared.
-The power of a positive mind-
Were’s career has been on a consistent rise, he won the Africa Championship Bronze medal at the 2022 Africa Championships in Mauritius before going on to win a Commonwealth Games Bronze medal with the 4 x 400m team in Birmingham the same year.
He qualified for the 2023 World Championships in Budapest where he was eliminated in the semi-final.
This year, the 27-year-old started his international season at the World Indoor championships where he led the 4 x 400m team to a new African record of 3:06:71.
“The goal is to get better and grow each and every day and most importantly have a positive mindset, positivity is what drives me, it’s about pushing day in day out”, concluded Were.
Kenya’s best Olympic performance in the 400m Hurdles is a silver medal by Boniface Mucheru at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.