World 5,000 meters champion Hellen Obiri is the first athlete to ‘qualify’ for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4 to 15.
Obiri was on Thursday handed a wildcard by Athletics Kenya, with the rest of the athletes expected to go through the trials.According to Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei, who spoke on Thursday said they reached on the decision as Obiri was the only athlete to request.
“Our panel of coaches will decide other races where they will deem wise to issue a wild card but so far we have none save for Obiri, who requested to be exempted from the trials,” said Tuwei when he spoke to the media.
Obiri, the Rio Olympic Games 5,000m silver medallist, has been one of Kenya's shining stars and is expected to perform well in this year’s games.
Kenya intends to pick a team of 65 athletes; 36 men and 29 women for the Gold Coast Games, with the trial games set to kick off on Saturday, with men and women’s race walks.