The Namibian athletics season started off well, with athletes bringing their top form to the second Athletics Namibia (AN) Grand Prix held at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium on Saturday.
AN hosts a series of Grand Prix that see athletes battling for ranking points, with the overall winning clubs and athletes rewarded at the end of the athletics season. Over the weekend, 21 athletics clubs gathered in Windhoek, with young and upcoming athletes standing head and shoulders above the rest.
Ohangwena-based Kakadhinwa Athletics Club’s 17-year-old runner, Sarah Shikongo, showed great potential when she won gold in the 800 metre (m) race with an impressive run of two minutes, 17 seconds and 15 split-seconds (02:17:15).
Shikongo’s teammate, Josef Jonas, was also in a class of his own as he dominated the men’s 800m with an impressive run of (01:49:31), while Omaruru Athletics Club’s David Dam outran everyone in heat three of the 800m but his time of (01:54:27) could only land him a silver medal.
In an interview with Nampa after the race, Shikongo said her goal for this year is to win the 800m and 1500m races at the nationals.
“I want to win the 800m and 1500m races at the National Championships and hopefully get a chance to represent my country at the U20 World Athletics Championships or the Commonwealth Games if I run good qualifying times,” she said.
Meanwhile, Dam told this agency he still has a long way to go in improving his time.
“It’s still the beginning of the year but I need to push myself hard. I should at least be running 1:48 in March, which is still very far from the 1:45 required to qualify for the Commonwealth Games,” said Dam, who added that his goal is to keep on improving despite it being difficult as he does not have training partners in Omaruru.
In an interview with Nampa after the Grand Prix, AN president Erwin Naimhwaka said he was happy with the competition.
“The turn-out was very good. The performances are promising for early season and Christine (Mboma) gave a very good performance,” said Naimhwaka, who added that young athletes from the regions gave it their all, which is good for the development of athletes in Namibia.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
