Kenya 2029: Uganda's golden chance to build a stronger athletics team

When Kenya's Nairobi beat London to the hosting rights for the 2029 World Athletics Championships, it did more than bring the world's biggest athletics event to East Africa, it handed Uganda a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the course of athletics for the future.

With the championships practically on Uganda's doorstep, there can be no excuses. This should be the moment Uganda stops relying almost entirely on its distance runners and starts building a broader team capable of producing its best-ever World Championships showing.

So much is at stake for Uganda Athletics, which will have a major global championship taking place within easy reach, removing some of the financial and logistical barriers that have often made qualification and participation difficult.

The responsibility now is to ensure that this advantage is turned into medals, bigger representation and a stronger athletics programme.

Ugandan athletics coach Benjamin Njia expects an explosion in the number of qualifiers.

"First of all, this is huge for athletics in the region, more so in Africa and East Africa. Seeing that Nairobi to many of our athletes is like Kampala, many athletes will work hard to qualify. The current mood is excitement because many athletes believe they have a big opportunity to make it," stated Njia.

The fact that athletes will not have to worry about long-haul flights to another continent, tedious and expensive visa processes, or costly air tickets makes this a dream opportunity for Ugandan athletes.

Uganda Athletics (UA) president Dominic Otucet is delighted that Kenya was able to get the bid over the line because he believes it will have an impact across the region.

"I am one of the federation presidents who wrote to World Athletics in support of Kenya's bid for many reasons, including the fact that our athletes train there while their athletes also sometimes come here."

He spoke glowingly of Kenya's robust and active athletics fan base, which has filled Kasarani many times for both local and international meets.

For Uganda, this is also an opportunity to make money, and the next two years will be pivotal.

The training camps in Sebei already attract international athletes, and those numbers could grow drastically in the build-up to the World Championships.

"I know some are run by management companies that may want to bring their athletes to Uganda before the World Championships. This also gives us as a country a chance to market our high-altitude training centres. We currently have limited accommodation at our hostel. Luckily, Kapchorwa town has some high-quality hotels, which could cause a boom for Kapchorwa as a sports city.

"Government has encouraged the private sector to set up a four-star hotel in Teryet, and I believe this can be expedited now that Kenya has won the bid," stated Otucet.

"Our biggest challenge at the moment for field events is that the standards are low for shot put and discus. At the moment, javelin, long jump and triple jump are improving, but it might be difficult to qualify unless we start a serious, coordinated campaign to qualify the team in the horizontal jumps," stated coaches' representative Abdallah Muhammad.

That should be the warning Uganda Athletics needs to hear. Kenya 2029 is still three years away, which means there is time to identify talent, provide proper facilities, increase competition and give field-event athletes the exposure they need. Waiting until qualification deadlines are looming will only leave Uganda playing catch-up.

If the federation, government and private sector can act now, Kenya's hosting could become more than a convenient championship on our doorstep; it could be the catalyst for Uganda to finally build a deeper and more competitive athletics team.