For many athletes, the good  performance recorded during their trials may not mean anything during the championships as their performance furies from the trials to the real championships. For one to perform in any championships, few things should be put into consideration. 

• The nature of training in preparation for the championships.
• Experience,
• The inspiration and the right  mood
• Confidence
• Team spirit
• Previous performance and success
• Support from the fans 

This  few factors determines ones performance in most championships according to my views following close interaction with most Kenyan and foreign athletes living and training in Iten Kenya. 

The nature of training in preparation for the championships.

This is one outstanding factor that should be given maximum attention for any athlete. One should first know their best training program in respect to their specific event. Deferent athletes are structurally built in a very unique way and this means that deferent training programs fit deferent athletes. Most athletes require suicidal training to gain good shape (form) for racing while others needs easy repetitions of training program.  

Good news: Most athletes know what is best for them and every time when they prepare for the trials, they seem to hit the spot as their bodies seems to respond to the training programs they follow. 

The bad news: is that, after trials most athletes e.g. the Kenyan athletes are taken to one training camp with a set of coaching staff with deferent kinds of training program compared to the one they may have been using while training on their own. This kind of training will probably work for a few and others will have to struggle with it to the championships. This greatly affects the performance of the team a great deal; others fail to perform due to either wrong training methods or overtraining during the team camp training. For some, always try to prove something to their team-mates or coaches during training and buy the time they go for the championships they will be worn out. While for lucky few, this will   sharpen their racing power, skills and confidence

Experience plays an important role in any championships especially major championships because, one is used to that breath-taking crowd and hence able to handle the pressure and transform it into a positive motivator for better results. Athletes like Ezekiel Kemboi and Asbel kiprop from Kenya are pretty much a good example of experience athletes and for them to top in their events will not come as a shock for anyone and for this to happen, experiences plays a major role to their success. 

Every successful sport needs inspiration, and with the right mood one will achieve their dreams in athletics. 

Confidence

For any athlete to leave a mark in any championship one should have sufficient energy and confidence to face their competitors and any challenged paused.

Team spirit

Working together as a team will boost the performance of every athlete as it provides room for encouragement and support of the fellow team-mates. This has been seen in Kenyan, Ethiopian and the American teams just to mention a few and it helps the athletes to go beyond their expectations.

Previous performance and success

The athletes who have been performing well in the past are more likely to perform better compared to those who have never won anywhere. This is probably due to motivation from the previous success.   

Support from the fans 

During every championship and in any sport, playing at home means an advantage to the athlete. For soccer players losing a match at home means a blow to the host because they have an advantage of the support from the fans. This also applies in athletics as the ones with greater support is likely to do well, compared to those playing away. 

Brother Colm is one of the greatest coaches in Kenya and he believes that Olympic stadiums are less likely to get a world record compared to most grand prix stadiums due to the distance of the fans to the athletes on track. 

• Size of the track: Tracks with lower capacity of seats are more likely to be full than bigger tracks like the Olympic stadiums. These smaller tracks when is field  to capacity, the support and the noise from the fans goes high and that one is likely to motivate the athletes to run  even faster.

• Some tracks are build in such a way that the outer lane is closer to the fan’s front seats, hence a strong connection between the athlete and the fans. This idea gets the athletes more inspired to run better.” Said Colm.