Today, Athletics Kenya dropped UTEP's Michael Saruni from the Kenyan 800m world team in favor of Ferguson Rotich (2016 IAAF Diamond League champion) and David Rudisha (2015 IAAF world champion).

2017 Kenyan Trials 800m Result:
1st Emmanuel Korir (Selected)
2nd Kipyegan Bett (Selected)
3rd Michael Saruni (Not Selected)
4th Ferguson Rotich (Selected)
Did Not Race David Rudisha (Selected)

Despite Saruni finishing third at the Kenya Trials last month, he was not awarded a spot on the team. Last month, Athletics Kenya president Jackson Tuwei announced their new selection process, and he explicitly said the top three finishers in each event at the Kenyan Trials would earn a spot on the world team as long as they secured the world standard. Therefore, the team should have been Korir, Bett, Saruni, and either Rotich via his Diamond League bye or Rudisha via his defending World champion bye. (IAAF rules state you can only use one bye per event)

Here's President Tuwei statement on the matter (0:38 time mark):



Saruni getting dropped in favor for Rudisha (who did not compete at the Trials) and Rotich (who finished fourth at the Trials) angered his coach, Paul Ereng.

Ereng told The Standard,

"I am angry with this. It simply shows the bad management in Kenyan athletics, which has been there since 1950s. There is no reason why Kenya should field two wilds and the IAAF rule is clear on it. Kenya is flouting rules to suit certain interests. Rudisha and Rotich have not won a single race this season. Saruni beat Rotich in the trials and I am wondering why they decided to drop Saruni. I am wondering why we should have trials and still don't stick to the results. Saruni has not qualified in 400m and I don't know what they will do if he fails to qualify," said Ereng.

Athletics Kenya vice president Paul Mutwii on dropping Saruni from the team:

"We made several considerations and opted to include the two athletes in the team. We found it wise to honour their hard work. So, we decide to drop Saruni (Michael) to 4x400m relay team and we want him to join the team heading for a competition in Belgium this weekend. He is still a young athlete with huge prospects in the future. We are certain the team will do well in London," said Mutwii.

On going against the 1-2-3 rule:

"We evaluated it, yes. But we concluded that IAAF wild cards carried more weight. It's good to respect such a great honour," said Mutwii.

Hopefully, we'll get to see Saruni on Kenya's 4x400m relay team, as they have a shot to earn a medal this year.

Watch Saruni kick down eventual U.S. champion Donavan Brazier back in March: