Africa-Press – Namibia. WITH the fifth leg of Athletics Namibia’s Grand Prix series having being held in Oshakati over the weekend, most of Namibia’s athletes are still a long way off from qualifying for major international events this year.
The World Athletics Championships will be held in Oregon, United States from 15 to 24 July and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham from 28 July to 8 August, but so far, only Namibia’s two sprinters, Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, and marathon athlete Helalia Johannes have qualified for both events.
The World Athletics Championships have the most stringent standards, but both Mboma and Masilingi have comfortably made the qualifying mark of 22,80 seconds for the women’s 200m on several occasions.
Mboma set a personal best of 21,78 at the Diamond League final in Zurich on 9 September, but due to a lack of doping control, it did not count as an u20 world record, with the result that her Olympics silver medal time of 21,81 seconds is the official u20 world record.
Masilingi set a personal best of 22,18 when she finished second behind Mboma at the u20 World Championships in Nairobi.
Johannes’ time of 2:31:22 at the Tokyo Olympics was within the Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 2:35:01, but outside the WAC qualifying time of 2:29:30.
However, on 7 November last year she comfortably made the World Championships qualifying time when she came fifth at the New York Marathon in 2:26:09.
Namibia’s other marathon runner at the Tokyo Olympics, Rainhold Thomas, must, however, still qualify for both events. His time of 2:18:28 in Tokyo is well outside the World Championships’ qualifying time of 2:11:30 and the Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 2:14:09.
Mboma and Masilingi have also qualified for the u20 World Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia from 1 to 6 August, where they will be joined by Tuane Silver, who has already broken the senior shot put record on two occasions this year.
On 22 January se broke the national record by more than a metre with a distance of 14,86m at the second Grand Prix in Windhoek, and on 9 February she once again improved the record with a distance of 15,24m in Pretoria. Both those distances comfortably beat the u20 World Championships’ qualifying mark of 14,50m.
Performances at the Oshakati Grand Prix, meanwhile, were not that great compared to international standards, although there were some exciting races to entertain the crowd.
Even Tjiuju of Namibia Correctional Services won a close 100m sprint in 10,92 seconds, with Gregor Appolus of Unam Athletics Club second in 10,94 and Onesmus Nekundi of Unam third in 11,02, while Mahmad Bock of Unam AC won a close 400m in 47,44, with team mate Warren Goreseb just behind in 47,47, and Namibian Paralympian Johannes Nambala third in 50,06.
David Dam of Omaruru Athletics Club dominated the men’s middle distance events, winning the 800m in 1:52,13, followed by Arno Angula of Cheetah Athletics Club (1:52,68) and Mathew Angula of Unam (1:54,75), while Dam also won the 1 500m in 3:58,20, followed by Simon Paulus of NCS (3:58,55) and Rainhold Thomas of NCS (3:58,81).
Simon Paulus maintained his dominance in the 5 000m, winning in 14:33,86, followed by Rainhold Thomas (14:44,05) and Wilhelm Hangala of NDF (14:45,64).
Hanganeni Fikunawa of Unam AC won the women’s 100m in 12,89, with Epifania Johannes of Kakadhinwa AC a split second behind in 12,90 and Rauha Nashongo of Unam third in 13,23, while Nandi Vass of Unam won the women’s 400m in 58,14, followed by Dolphine Kapere of Tumella AC (59,01) and Renate Ndjamba of Utokero AC (1:00,51).
Tuuliki Angala of Cheetah AC won the women’s 80m in 2:15,04, followed by Salmi Nduviteko of Nampol AC (2:17,13) and Elisia Nambudu of Kakadhinwa AC (2:19,27), while Nyanyukweni Frans of Epupa Rapid AC won the women’s 1 500m in 4:44,88, followed by Saara Shikongo of Kakadhinwa AC (4:47,67) and Elisia Nambudu of Kakadhinwa AC (4:49,50).
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