March's Indoor Championships a key build up for London Olympics later this year

With 200 days to go to the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, the athletics season is now underway and for many athletes looking to get their Olympic campaign going, this preparation period is hitting a crucial stage.

After the highly successful championships in Daegu by Kenya, this indoor season provides another opportunity for our athletes to shine on the global stage once again.

For sprinters and middle distance runners, the upcoming indoor season is viewed as the ideal preparation towards a successful Olympic campaign in the summer. For some, it is a break from the speed endurance phase to test their fitness levels, while for others; it is a full-on, well-planned out season as indoor specialists well suited to the shorter, banked surface of the indoor track.

Nonetheless, this indoor season is important as six top quality meetings will precede the 14^th edition of the IAAF World Indoor Championships that will be held in early March in Istanbul, Turkey. So significant are these championships to the athletics world that record-high entries have been submitted by 170 countries confirming participation.

Kenya’s record at previous indoor championships is fairly unimpressive in its 27 year history having won a total of 16 medals and producing only 5 champions. However, that is a skewed assessment as Kenya initially entered a select few participants to the early championships.

With this being such an important year, I feel that the athletes’ agents ought to encourage quality participation in the events leading up to the championships. In an Olympic year, the caliber of athletes will always be strong and if Kenyan athletes want to challenge for the medals, they need to be racing against the best opposition.

Athletics Kenya ought to select the best possible team for the Istanbul championships in order to win more medals this time around and set the tone for greater things in London later in the summer.

The men’s 800 meters has always been our savior at the World Indoor Championships with 3 gold medals at that event and this year, our athletes could continue that trend given the strong performers at that event.

With the World Cross Country Championships missing from this year’s athletics calendar, this would be a great opportunity for versatile superstars like Vivian Cheruiyot and Asbel Kiprop to participate in Istanbul and add the only medals left to their growing collection of global titles.

After a splendid season last year and reports of an exceptional off-season training period, expect Vivian to have a strong showing on the indoor circuit this winter. After her silver medal performance at the 2010 indoor championships in Doha, Vivian would like to top the podium this time ahead of her more experienced Ethiopian indoor rival, Meseret Defar. With such matchups to look forward to this winter, the women’s distance races should produce some of the highlights this season.