Zablon Ekwam/ FILEReigning national 200m champion Zablon Ekwam has laid down the gauntlet, declaring his mission to secure his ticket to next year’s Commonwealth Games and stamp his authority over both the 200m and 400m on home soil.
After a strong 2025 campaign, the explosive sprinter is plotting an even bigger 2026 one that ends with him draped in Kenya’s colours on the global stage.
“My biggest target for next year is to feature in the Commonwealth Games. That is what I will be working and focusing on this coming season,” Ekwam said.
The 2026 Club Games are scheduled for July 23 to August 2 in Glasgow, Scotland, an arena Ekwam believes will be his springboard to greatness.
The speed merchant has already hit the ground running as he builds up towards his most important season yet.
“I began my preparations for the 2026 season in late November. I may not know my body shape at the moment until early next year, but I am putting maximum effort in my training,” he noted.
Laser-focused on his individual ambitions, Ekwam is ready to make some tough calls in pursuit of excellence.
“I will skip the Indoors and also the World Relays. I am skipping the Relays to focus solely on my individual event,” he added.
That decision speaks volumes for a man who has long been a cornerstone of Kenya’s 4x400m relay engine room.
He was part of the record-breaking men’s 4x400m indoor unit featuring Wiseman Were, Kevin Tauta and Boniface Mweresa. The quartet smashed the African record with a time of 3:06.71 for fourth place at the 2024 Indoor Championships in Glasgow, just behind Belgium (3:02.54) and the USA (3:02.60).
Ekwam was also primed to feature in the mixed 4x400m relay at September’s World Championships in Tokyo but was cruelly sidelined by injury during the final stretch of training camp.
“I was in the 4x400m mixed relay squad in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I got an injury during training and was forced to sit on the sidelines. Brian Tinega took my spot.”
The team of Tinega, Mary Moraa, Mercy Oketch and Allan Kipyego would later be disqualified in the heats for lane infringement.
With that setback firmly behind him, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) athlete has already mapped out a high-octane 2026 competition calendar with the first major competition for him being the Djibouti International Meeting, a World Athletics Continental Tour event, set for March 27.
“My first big race will be a meeting in Djibouti, although my coach is still ironing things out with my manager. After that, there is the Botswana Grand Prix and then the Kip Keino Classic,” he revealed.
Back home, Ekwam is a man on a mission, armed with confidence and a warning for anyone daring to challenge his supremacy over the 200m.
“For next year, I will double both the 400m and the 200m. At the national championships, I am going to defend my title. So the other athletes better be prepared for a tough show. If somebody wants to get the title from me, they will have to sweat for it,” Ekwam declared.
At this year’s national championships on June 27 at Ulinzi Sports Complex, Ekwam clinched the 200m crown in 20.47, outpacing Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala (20.53), while Dennis Mwai sealed the podium in 20.73.
Ekwam has further set his sights on rewriting Kenyan history as he stalks the long-standing national 200m record of 20.14 set by Carvin Nkanata in Clermont, USA, in 2015.
“I am not far from the national record. With the way I ran this year, I am confident that by June the national 200m record will have fallen,” he declared.
