Africa-Press – Mozambique. At 7:05 p.m. Maputo time today (11:05 a.m. in Colombia), Mozambican middle distance runner Verónica Vicente José will compete in the 1500-metres elimination round in the Under-20 World Athletics Championships at the Pascual Gerrero Olympic Stadium in Cali, Colombia, in what will be her world championship debut.
According to the programme of events to which Notícias has had access, today’s event is a single elimination round, which means that if the 19-year-old manages to qualify, she will earn the right to participate in the 1,500 metres final at 4:00 p.m. in Cali (midnight in Maputo) on Saturday.
Verónica – who is accompanied by coach Salvador Chitsondzo – departed for Colombia distressed at the arrest, for immigration irregularities, of her Portuguese-Mozambican coach, Alberto Lário, but is at the moment more focused on the competition.
In a brief interview with our reporter, the new promise of Mozambican athletics said: “I was well received and I feel good, despite the fatigue derived from the long journey of about 30 hours, which made me feel some lack of oxygen at the beginning. I started training the day before yesterday and my biggest expectation is to reach the final. It would be good if everything worked out, as this is my first top-level international race.”
Verónica qualified for the championships by winning the gold medal in the 1500 metres race in the Portuguese city of Braga on June 9th with a time of 4 minutes 28.96 seconds.
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