{"id":4896,"date":"2026-01-05T11:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/4896\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T11:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:41:15","slug":"kenya-eyes-title-defence-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/4896\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya eyes title defence in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/citizen.digital\/author\/mkalla-wa-mwambodze-532\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ui-avatars.com\/api\/?name=M+w+M&amp;color=7F9CF5&amp;background=EBF4FF\" alt=\"Mkalla wa Mwambodze\"\/><\/a> By<br \/>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/citizen.digital\/author\/mkalla-wa-mwambodze-532\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n        Mkalla wa Mwambodze<br \/>\n      <\/a><br \/>\n      Published on:  January 05, 2026 02:09 (EAT)<br \/>\n      <img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Kenya eyes title defence in Florida\" alt=\"Kenya eyes title defence in Florida\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/National-Cross-Country-team-that-was-in-residential-camp-at-Kigari-Teachers-College.-og_image.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>   <img decoding=\"async\" data-v-7257c9c5=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tts-pre-loader.gif\" alt=\"Vocalize Pre-Player Loader\" style=\"all:unset!important;display:inline!important;\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-7257c9c5=\"\" style=\"font-size:13px;margin-left:20px;\">Audio By Vocalize<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Team Kenya is optimistic ahead of the 2026 World Cross<br \/>\nCountry Championships set for this Saturday, January 10 in Tallahassee,<br \/>\nFlorida, USA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The 35-member squad is scheduled to depart in two groups on 5<br \/>\nand 6 January as Kenya gears up for another assault on the global stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Kenya will be out to defend the overall title it clinched at<br \/>\nlast year\u2019s championships in Belgrade, Serbia, where the country dominated the<br \/>\nmedal table with an impressive haul of 11 medals \u2014 six gold, two silver and<br \/>\nthree bronze.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Speaking at the Windsor Hotel in Nairobi, where the team has<br \/>\nset up base ahead of its departure to the United States, coaches Ruth Keter and<br \/>\nRobert Ngisirei lauded the discipline and commitment shown by the athletes<br \/>\nduring camp.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cThis team has been doing well in every edition, and even<br \/>\nthis time in camp they showed a very high level of discipline, which gives us<br \/>\nconfidence that they will perform well,\u201d said Keter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Ngisirei echoed the same sentiments, particularly praising<br \/>\nthe women\u2019s squad: \u201cThe girls are very good, and we pray that God will guide<br \/>\nthem when they arrive in America so that they can compete strongly against<br \/>\ntheir peers and overcome the challenge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Prior to relocating to Nairobi, the squad underwent a<br \/>\nhigh-intensity residential training camp at St Mark\u2019s Teachers College in<br \/>\nKigari, a renowned high-altitude training base that has produced many of<br \/>\nKenya\u2019s Cross country greats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Coach Simick Ruto expressed confidence in the team\u2019s<br \/>\npreparation, insisting the athletes are ready to defend the overall crown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cThe team has been well prepared throughout the period they<br \/>\nwere in camp, and I assure Kenyans that it is ready and strong enough to post<br \/>\ngood results and retain the overall title,\u201d Ruto said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Mkalla wa Mwambodze Published on: January 05, 2026 02:09 (EAT) Audio By Vocalize Team Kenya is optimistic&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2279,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-4896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-kenya"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}