Monica Jelimo is targeting an improved performance on home soil when she lines up at the CAC Road Cycling African Championships in Kisumu from October 21-25.
The 2024 African Continental Mountain Bike Championships Women Elite cross-country (XCO) bronze medallist heads into the continental showpiece in promising form after gaining valuable racing experience across road, gravel and track disciplines this season.
Jelimo was part of Team Kenya at last year’s championships in Kwale, where she finished 29th in the elite women’s 107.6km road race in 3:18:06. Kendra Tabu was Kenya’s best finisher, placing 19th in 3:14:24, as none of the home riders managed a top-10 finish.
The result was a step back for Jelimo, who had been Kenya’s leading finisher at the 2024 championships in Eldoret after finishing 14th overall in 3:22:39.
She is now hoping for a better outing when Kenya hosts the continental championships for the third successive year, following Eldoret in 2024 and Kwale in 2025. “Hopefully, I am looking for a good time with the peloton and overall a good personal result and an improvement,” Jelimo said.
The cyclist opened her 2026 campaign at the UCI Gravel World Series-Safari Gravel in Naivasha on June 13, finishing fifth in 4:42:45. A week later, she claimed second place in the road race at the National Championships in 3:05:18 before representing Kenya at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
She finished 13th in the women’s individual time trial in 1:24.46 and also placed 13th in the individual pursuit in 5:46.41. At last month’s World Championships in Montreal, Canada, Jelimo finished 43rd in the individual time trial in 1:06:38 before recording a DNF in the road race.
She described the global championships as a demanding but valuable experience that exposed her to the depth and intensity of elite international competition. “It was really tough but such an experience. You can’t get it anywhere else,” she said.
The Kisumu championships are expected to attract more than 30 African countries, with Governor Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o saying more than 300 elite competitors are projected to compete in 15 race categories.
“The competition will see over three hundred elite competitors competing in fifteen thrilling race categories, with the action transmitted LIVE across Kenya and the world,” Nyong’o said.
He added that the event is projected to generate more than 1.8 million social media impressions and close to 90,000 engagements, raising Kisumu’s profile internationally.
