Career
Odira is from Migori County and grew up in a rural setting. She attended St. Peters Keberesi Secondary School in Kisii County. Initially a cross country runner, in 2016, aged 17, Odira won the Kenyan national high school title in the 800 metres before placing third at the East African School Games. [2]
She had a maternity break in 2020 and returned to competition in 2023. [3] [4] [5] She runs for the Kenyan Prisons services and has been coached since close to the start of her career by Jacinta Murigura. [6] [7]
She competed at the 2024 African Games in Accra in March 2024, and ran 2:00.81 to finish fourth in the women's 800 m. [8] [9] In May 2024, she became Kenyan national champion over 800 metres in Nairobi, running a time of 2:02.21. [10] [11]
She won the Kenyan Olympic qualifier in June 2024, ahead of Mary Moraa in a time of 1:59.27. [12] This time also met the qualifying standard for the 2024 Paris Olympics. [13] She won silver at the African Championships in Doula, Cameroon in June 2024, running a time of 2:00.36. [14] [15]
She competed in the 800 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in August 2024, reaching the semi-finals where she finished fourth in her heat in 1:58.53 behind Keely Hodgkinson, Nia Akins and Prudence Sekgodiso. [16] [17]
Odira placed third at the Athletics Kenya (AK) Prisons Cross Country Championships, held on 18 January 2025, in Ruiru. [18] She was a semifinalist at the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing in March 2025. [19] [20]
She ran a new personal best of 1:58.31 to win the 800 metres at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi on 31 May 2025. [21] She retained her 800 metres title at the Kenyan Athletics Championships in June 2025. [22] She won the Athletics Kenya World Championship Trials the following month. [23] She set a new personal best in the 800 metres at the 2025 Kamila Skolimowska Memorial, part of the 2025 Diamond League, with a run of 1:56.52 to finish runner-up to Keely Hodgkinson. [24]
She was subsequently named in the Kenyan team for the 800 metres at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. [25] In Tokyo, she won her semifinal heat in 1:56.85 ahead of Switzerland’s Audrey Werro, before winning the final in a personal best time of 1:54.62 ahead of Georgia Hunter Bell and Keeley Hodgkinson with compatriot Sarah Moraa in fourth, in a race in which teammate Mary Moraa took the race out fast in the first 400 metres. Speaking after the race, Odira said that the Kenyans "worked as a team. We knew Mary was strong over 400 m, so she was to set the pace. From there, the best athlete would emerge". [26] The time was a championship record beating by 0.06sec the previous best set by Czech runner Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983. [27]
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