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'Kisii Express' went into the event seeking to right the wrongs of last year and did just that thanks to the partisan crowd
Commonwealth champion Mary Moraa has explained that pressure of expectation from home supporters pushed her to win the 800m at the Kip Keino Classic on Saturday.
Moraa showed her class to upstage a strong field to win the race in season best 1:58.83 at the Kasarani Stadium with supporters fully behind her. With the win, Moraa finally managed to get her revenge against South African Prudence Sekgodiso, who beat her at the last minute to claim victory last year.
Sekgodiso famously beat Moraa to the tape at the 2022 edition and the Kenyan had vowed to avenge the defeat which she accomplished in style by taking off in the second and final lap to claim the win with Ethiopian Natsanet Desta (2:00.14) and compatriot Vivian Chebet (2:00.54) settling for second and third positions respectively while the South African defending champion could only manage fifth place.
Kisii Express, as she is famously known, believes she could have perhaps not managed the feat had it not been for the partisan crowd, which included President William Ruto.
“I was having big tension in my mind because everybody was looking at me and I was like ‘I don’t want to disappoint my fans in the stadium’. So, I decided to push myself up to the limit,” she said.
“They have been with me since 2017 (World Under-18 Championships) up to now and I will not disappoint them. Let them continue cheering me.
“I’m happy with my training, the advise I am getting from my coach and my mentor Helen Obiri and I hope maybe in August in Budapest (World Championships) I will do something better than this.”
The World 800m bronze medalist, however, feels she has still not hit the heights she needs to win a medal at the World Championships.
“I have seen areas that I will seek to rectify so that in the next race, I am somewhere good. I am so happy for the win, my revenge has gone through,” she added.
The 22-year-old has now cast her sights on the Rabat Diamond League in Morocco on May 28, where she hopes to record an even better time.
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