•The soft-spoken athlete says the high-performance camp in Miramas has pushed his confidence levels sky-high.
•The athletes will spend a few days in Miramas before heading to the Games Village in Paris.
Image: HANDOUT
Kenya’s 400m sensation Zablon Ekwam believes he’s gaining the much-needed fitness and improving as the Paris Olympic Games near.
The soft-spoken athlete says the high-performance camp in Miramas has pushed his confidence levels sky-high as he continues the countdown to his Olympics debut.
“I am trying to adjust my mind to see how I can tackle the heats, semis and finals. So when the games begin, I’ll be figuring out when to attack and accelerate with different types of athletes. On a scale of one-10, we are at 8. I know we still have a few days to go to catch up,” Ekwam said.
Reflecting on his career, Ekwam believes Paris will offer him an opportunity to showcase his skills.
“Looking at my career five years back, I was nowhere. That is when I was running sub-50s, around 49 seconds in 400m. I was also doing 22 in 200m. Four years later, it’s a dream come true to have made the Olympic team. I’m going to burn midnight oil to ensure I give my best,” he said.
The athletes will spend a few days in Miramas before heading to the Games Village in Paris.
Ekwam continued: “My coach and I are contended with the results and we are building it gradually in Miramas.”
The high-flying athlete is excited that Miramas has more or less the same weather as Paris and that acclimatisation training will help athletes cope with the current hot temperatures.
“I think this is the first time sprinters have been taken to a high-performance training of the Miramas calibre and it motivates us as athletes. The essence is to acclimatise to the condition we will experience in the French capital and I promise results will come,” explained Ekwam, who has always summed up his athletics journey as 'ups and downs'.
He expounded: “The 400m race is a tough discipline but growing up in a remote village in Turkana has taught me to handle tough situations.
Zablon Ekwam
PROFILE
Birth Name: Zablon Ekhal Ekwam
Nationality: Kenyan
Born: August 4, 1997 (age 26)
Sport-Athletics
Event-400 metres
Personal best: 44.69 (Nairobi, 2024)