Commonwealth Games 800 metres champion Mary Moraa is a woman on a mission. Moraa wants to exact revenge on South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso and also put up a sub-two minutes performance at the Kip Keino Classic on May 13 in Nairobi.
Fresh from breaking her own national record in 400m at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix on Saturday, Moraa, the world 800m bronze medallist, said the weather will play a great role in the race.
Sekgodiso cruised to a world lead time of one minute, 58.41 seconds to win at the Kip Keino Classic last year, beating Moraa to second place in season’s best 1:59.87 as world mixed relay silver medallist, Naomi Korir settled third in personal best 2:00.06.
Moraa and Sekgodiso were kept apart at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix where the Kenyan produced a kick in the last 50m to win the 400m in personal best and national record in 50.44 seconds.
On the other hand, Sekgodiso was beaten to second place by Ethiopian Habitam Alemu, timing 2:00.39 against 1:59.35.
Moraa noted that it will be quite challenging to better her personal best of 1:56.71, being too early in the season.
“I doubt if the field will be fast enough to push me to sub 1:57,” explained Moraa, adding that she had not planned to break her own national record in 400m in Botswana.
Moraa, 22, broke her previous record set during the national trials for the World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games last year by 23 miliseconds.
“I was just using the race to polish my speed in the last 200m and in the process turned out nicely for a record,” said Moraa.
Besides Sekgodiso, Moraa is up against Ethiopians Africa 800m silver medallist Netsanet Desta and Girma Tigist among others.
