Veteran marathon runner, Helalia Johannes, bagged Namibia’s first medal of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, after finishing third in the women’s marathon on Saturday afternoon.

Johannes, who was the defending champion ahead of the race after winning gold in Gold Coast, Australia, in 2018, had to settle for bronze, just behind Kenya’s Margaret Muriuki, who claimed silver, while Jessica Stenson from Australia won the extremely tight race.

The three women broke out from the group after 20 kilometres of running, and the fight for a gold medal was decided with just four kilometres left in the race, when the Australian put her foot down and started creating a gap between herself and the competitors.

Stenson completed the race with a seasonal best time of two hours 27 minutes and 31 seconds (2:27:31), while Muriuki ran a personal best of 2:28:00 and Johannes, a seasonal best of 2:28:39.

The other Namibian runner who also competed in the race, Alina Armas, came seventh with a seasonal best of 2:33:30.

In an interview with Nampa after the race, Johannes said the race was not easy due to a lot of corners and hills, but she was happy to complete the race.

“I am really happy to have completed this race and thanks should be given to the almighty lord for making this possible. I had a great race but at the end of the race, I started feeling a pain which then forced me to reduce my speed and started running my own pace from the lead group,” she said.

Meanwhile, Armas said she was proud of her teammate’s achievement of always bringing medals home.

“Today my teammate helped me a lot in the race. She only left me at around 17 kilometres when she decided to go with the lead group and I am happy that she took me until that far and I managed to finish seventh which is not an easy thing to do,” said Armas.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency