By Prudence Minayo
Stanley Waithaka Mburu (Born on 9th April 2000) is a Kenyan long distance runner who competes in the 5,000m and 10,000m races. He first burst into the limelight in 2017 after he won bronze at the IAAF World U18 Championships at the 3000m race.
Here is his inspiring journey in the world of athletics as told by WoK.
Career
After his success in 2017, he made his first appearance at the 2018 IAAF Diamond League circuit. He came third in the 5000m race with a personal best of 13:10:14 minutes. At the World U20 Championships that year, in a race won by fellow compatriot Edward Zakayo, who had also beaten him in previous year’s U18 Championships. In August, he came first at the Palio Citta Della Quercia but unfortunately, failed to finish at the Memorial Van Damme Race.
Towards the end of 2018, he went to Japan and competed for Yakult Corporate Team. In the November 10,000m race, he became the fastest athlete of the year after completing the race in 27:13:01.
Oregon
In July 2022, he clinched a silver medal at the men’s 10,000m finals at the World Athletics Championship in Oregon,USA. Joshua Cheptegei of Team Uganda won the Gold medal.
Stanley Waithaka Mburu won Kenya’s third medal during the competitions after Hellen Obiri and Margaret Chelimo won silver and bronze respectively at the women’s 10,000m on Saturday, the previous day. While he did not win, his inspiring competitive spirit was the talk of the nation. At the beginning of the race, he fell down yet he still managed to rise up and finish the race at 27:27:43 minutes.
“We are putting in a lot of hard work in training and as you have seen that fruits are already starting to show. I am confident if we continue like that we will deliver the gold medal that we have been searching for long,” said the silver medalist.
Waithaka added that he hopes to continue representing Kenya and win even more medals through working hard in training.
