Reigning World 800m champion Mary Moraa will not be resting after the Kip Keino Classic as she gears up to meet with her Briton rival at the Diamond League Meeting in Doha.
Reigning World 800m champion Mary Moraa will not rest on her laurels after the Kip Keino Classic on Saturday, April 20, since she has been confirmed for the Diamond League Meeting in Doha on Friday, May 3.
Moraa has already signed up for the Kip Keino Classic, a World Athletics Continental Tour fifth edition, where she will compete in her first 800m this season. Last year, Moraa lit up the Kasarani Stadium with a win over the two-lap race and she will be keen to defend her title in style.
The Commonwealth Games champion will then proceed to the Diamond League Meeting in Doha where one of her opponents will be the reigning World Indoor Championships silver medallist Jemma Reekie of Great Britain.
Ahead of her grand return to Doha, the 400m national record holder said: “I’m looking forward to returning to Doha to compete in the Diamond League.”
“Every year, I’m learning more and growing in confidence. I am now a world champion and it’s natural that my target for this summer is to run quicker than I’ve ever done before and to win gold at the Olympic Games.
“I have seen the crowds in Doha and how they get behind the African athletes – I hope I can do a victory dance for them!”
Moraa has been off to a great start this season, winning gold in the 400m at the African Games in Accra, Ghana last month and will certainly build on that ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris, France.
On her part, Reekie, the British indoor mile record holder (4:17.88), was a double gold medalist over 800m and 1500m at the 2019 European Under-23 Championships.
Since then, she has been in a class of her own, impressing in most of her events which include finishing second at the 2024 World Indoors in Glasgow and reaching the finals of the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and World Championships in Budapest, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
