Olympic silver medallist Christine Mboma won the 200 metre (m) gold medal for Namibia in a championship record time of 21.84 seconds at the 2021 World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday.

She beat compatriot and previous championship record holder Beatrice Masingili, who set a personal best of 22.18s for a silver medal, with Nigeria’s Favour Ofili getting the bronze medal with a Nigerian record time of 22.23 seconds.

It was the second time in two days that Mboma set a record at the games, having clocked 22.41 seconds in the first semi-final heat on Saturday, only for Masilingi to eclipse it seven minutes later with a time of 22.19s.

These were Namibia’s second and third medals ever at the World Under-20 Athletics Championships, after Masilingi won a silver in the 100m race on Thursday.

Speaking to Nampa soon after the race, Mboma expressed happiness at winning the gold medal while thanking Namibians for their love and support during the games.

Her coach Henk Botha said they are very happy with the results.

“The main thing is not winning gold and silver, but running your best time and to the best of your ability. We must realise that these girls are still very young, so we must protect them and prepare them well for the future,” Botha said.

The two Namibian ‘Golden Girls’ have a chance to add another medal, as they are set to participate in the 4x100m relay on Sunday, having gone directly into the finals after only eight nations registered for the race.

On Saturday, Namibia sat at number 10 on the medals table with one gold and two silver medals.

Kenya led the medals table with five gold, one silver and three bronze medals, followed by Finland with three gold and one silver.

Nigeria was third with three gold and two bronze medals.

Source: Namibia Press Agency