Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala is the favourite for the men's 100m event at the African Athletics Championships ©Getty Images

More than 600 athletes are expected to take part in the African Athletics Championships, which are set to get underway tomorrow in St Pierre in Mauritius.

A total of 636 athletes have entered the competition, which is primarily due to be held at the Côte d'Or National Sports Complex.

The Championships are being held for the first time since 2018, with the event unable to take place in the Algerian city of Oran in 2020 and 2021.

Last year, Nigeria withdrew an offer to stage the Championships after Oran pulled out.

It falls during a busy year which also includes the World Championships in Oregon and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, both due to begin next month, and none of Africa's world or Olympic champions are expected to take part.

Namibia's women's 200 metres Olympic silver medallist Christine Mboma is also set to miss the event as she is recovering from a thigh injury sustained in May at the Kip Keino Classic, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event.

Compatriot Beatrice Masilingi is also out of the Championships with injury.

However, Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya is among the stars set to take part.

Nigeria's Olympic bronze medallist Ese Brume is bidding for her fourth consecutive women's long jump title in St Pierre ©Getty Images
Nigeria's Olympic bronze medallist Ese Brume is bidding for her fourth consecutive women's long jump title in St Pierre ©Getty Images

He is favourite for the men's 100m event, having set a world-leading for 2022 of 9.85sec at the Kip Keino Classic.

Botswana's Bayapo Ndori, a bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020 in the men's 4x400m relay, is the only African runner to have posted a sub-45 time this year, and is also set to feature in Mauritius.

Commonwealth Games champion Tobi Amusan of Nigeria placed fourth in the women's 100m hurdles in the Japanese capital last year, and is bidding to defend her continental title.

Compatriot Ese Brume is aiming for her fourth consecutive women's long jump title at the African Championships.

She took bronze at Tokyo 2020, and silver at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade earlier this year.

This is the third time the Championships has been held in Mauritius, following on from the 1992 edition in Belle Vue Maurel and the 2006 edition in Bambous.

The newly built athletics stadium at the Côte d'Or National Sports Complex held its first competition in April of this year.

The African Championships are due to run from tomorrow until Sunday (June 12).