The Kenya team for the Open Water World Championship in Singapore will have a five-day training camp this week in Mombasa in readiness for the championship, which gets underway from July 16.
The training camp will feature endurance swimming in the Indian Ocean for two days and three days in the regular swimming pool as they step up preparations for the championship, where Kenya will be making a debut.
The week-long event is held concurrently with water polo and conventional swimming.
Kenya Aquatics (KA) Executive Committee member, Heinze Kahindo, said the training camp will be divided into two, with one camp at the coast and the other in Nairobi
The Mombasa-based swimmers include Swaleh Taib, Igbal Bayusuf and Samir Bachelani. They will be under the tutelage of coaches Abdul Malik and Fakry Mansoor.
The Nairobi-based swimmers Victoria Okumu, Serah Mawira and Ariel Joseph will be training at the United States International University (USIU) before joining the rest of the team in Mombasa for the final preparations in the Ocean.
Italy-based Maria Bianchi will continue with her training regimen in Milan, Italy.
Open water swimming is different from conventional swimming and is held primarily in large water bodies like oceans and seas, and features three categories: 3km, 5km and 10km
He said the camp will focus on endurance and speed in readiness for the world event.
Kahindo was upbeat about the country's chances of doing well in the competition against the likes of top contenders, the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany, and the USA.
“ This being our first attempt in open water swimming, our goal is for the swimmers to be competitive. With well-developed structures and more swimmers taking up the sport, we will be a force to reckon with in the years to come,” said Kahindo.
Kahindo said the federation was exploring other swimming disciplines like water polo and expressed confidence they could send a team to regional and later the World Championship.
“ As a federation, we want to develop all aspects of swimming, not only the conventional. Water polo is big in the fraternity, and we have well well-laid-out plan to develop it in the next few years."
