The 21-year-old lowered her personal best at the Michigan NCAA Invitational Meet and now believes a place at the World Indoor Championships is possible.
Rukia Nusra dreams of becoming the first hurdler from Kenya to qualify for the World Indoor Championships.
The 21-year-old, currently based in the US, features in the 110m hurdles, a discipline that Kenyan athletes rarely take up.
Nusra has enjoyed a meteoric rise and qualified to represent Kenya in both the 2023 African Games and 2024 Africa Athletics Championships, finishing sixth in both events but has big dreams with the World Indoor Championships set for March in Nanjing, China in her sights.
Inspired by Ferdinand Omanyala, the Kenyan hurdler is keen to knock Olympics champion Masai Russell off her perch, after securing a US scholarship.
The youngster is currently based in the US where she studies nursing, after securing a scholarship, in Akron, Ohio and recently set a new personal best in the 60m hurdles when she ran 8.48 seconds to win the Michigan NCAA Invitational Meet.
However, she still has work to do before she can actualise her dream of running at the World Indoor Championships as the qualifying standard is 7.94 seconds but she is confident of getting there.
“No Kenyan male or female has ever qualified for the Indoor hurdles so it would be a huge honour to break that barrier,” she told Telecomasia.net.
“That being said, I am under no pressure. My goal is to keep improving my times and see where that takes me.
“If I manage to qualify for the World Championships, that would be incredible. But for now, I am just happy with my progress. Lowering my PB shows that I am on the right track.”
Nusra draws inspiration from Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala whom he hopes to follow in his footsteps but is not putting herself under pressure just yet.
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Ferdinand Omanyala’s bold decision could be the game-changer he needs to make history at the World Championships—will it pay off?
The youngster is thankful that she has access to world class facilities which will help accelerate her way to the top.
