Kenyan long-distance runner Daniel Mateiko has set his sights on bringing the Olympic Men’s 10,000m title back to his country for the first time in 56 years.
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Part of the NN Running Team, Mateiko holds personal bests of 13:13.45 for the 5000m; 26:50.81 for the 10,000m; 29:03 for the 10km road race; and 58:26 for the half marathon.
The 25-year-old is set to represent his country in the 10,000m at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where he hopes to become the first Kenyan to win the title since way back in 1968.
In that year, Naftali Temu took the gold in Mexico City for Kenya, but the event has since been mostly dominated by Ethiopia, with runners from that country claiming six of the last 13 Olympic titles – including Tokyo 2020 when Selemon Barega triumphed.
Kenya have come close – most notably through Paul Tergat, who claimed back-to-back silver medals in 1996 and 2000, when he was outclassed by the legendary Haile Gebrselassie – but Mateiko is determined to break the drought.
And he has the benefit of training alongside fellow world-class athletes and compatriots Eliud Kipchoge and Geoffrey Kamworor, who are also a part of the NN Running Team.
“I believe my preparation will be good and I have no plans of changing any program that I have been doing so that I go and do my best there. I hope to do my best,” said Mateiko.
“It’s a great motivation for me to be training with great athletes like Eliud Kipchoge and Geoffrey Kamworor and I have learnt a lot of tactics and resilience from them.”
The 25-year-old added that it was a dream come true to make the cut for the Olympic team after clocking a world-leading time in the10,000m at the Prefontaine Classic, the Diamond League event in Eugene, United States, in late May.
“I felt so good, it was my dream to one day represent Kenya in the Olympic Games and I got the opportunity and I thank God. I believe that I’m going to do my best,” he explained, having missed out on selection for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
“Sometimes, I treat my challenges as a climbing ladder towards the next level. I had a self-confidence and I believed in myself.”
The Men’s 10,000m final will be held on the track at the Stade de France on the evening of Friday 2 August.
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