Mboma and Bock set new national records in Botswana

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Namibia’s 200 metres (m) Olympic Games medallist, Christine Mboma and 400m sprinter Mahmad Bock on Saturday set up new national records in the 100m and 400m sprints while competing at the Gaborone International Meet.

A group of 26 athletes and five officials represented Namibia at the one-day international athletics championship held in Gaborone, Botswana.

Mboma who ran in two events on the day outclassed her opponents in the 100m sprint clocking a new national record of 10.97 seconds to break the previous record set by her teammate Beatrice Masilingi in Nairobi, Kenya in 2021. Masilingi ran a time of 11.20 seconds which was also an Under-20 record.

On Saturday, Mboma smashed that record setting a new national record, also an U-20 record, and became the first female athlete under age 20 to run under 11 seconds with her time of 10.97 seconds.

In that 100m event, Masilingi finished sixth with a time of 13.12 seconds.

Mboma also ran a seasonal best of 21.87 seconds in the 200m event which she dominated as her competitors were two seconds behind her.

Meanwhile, Bock broke a national record that has been standing for the last 42 years, when he finished second in the 400m men’s B National race. He clocked a time of 45.80 seconds – his personal best and new Namibian record in the men’s 400m.

The previous record of 46.14 seconds was set by Daniel Haitembu on 26 April 1980 in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Bock’s counterpart Ivan Danny Geldenhuys finished fourth with a seasonal best of 46.55 seconds.

Other Namibians who also competed at this championship are 5 000m runners Daniel Paulus who won the men’s event in a time of 13:54.82, while Simon Paulus came fourth in a time of 14:15.24.

In the women’s 200m B National, Carien Oosthuizen won bronze with a time of 25.81 seconds while in the men’s 200m B National, Hatago Murere came fourth in 21.67 seconds.

The 800m men’s B National saw Arno Angula finishing 10th with a time of 2:02.87. Nandi Vass won a bronze medal in the women’s 400m B National clocking 57.23 seconds.

In the 400m men’s C National Andre Retief won silver (46.17 seconds) while his teammate Warren Goreseb finished fifth (47.06 seconds).

The men’s 100m E National saw Anthony Vries winning bronze after clocking 11.01seconds. In the men’s 100m D National Onesmus Nekundi finished fourth with 10.78 seconds and the men’s 100m C National saw Gilbert Hainuca winning silver at 10.36 seconds.

The men’s and women’s premium long jump events saw Chenoult Coetzee finish second with a jump of 7.48m in the men’s category while his teammate Sandro Diergaardt finished fifth with a jump of 7.25m.

In the women’s category, Frieda Iithete finished sixth with a jump of 5.76m.

Saara Shikongo and Nyanyukweni Frans finished fourth and fifth respectively in the women’s 1 500m Classic. They clocked times of 4:39.72 and 4:43.52.

National 200m champion Ernst Narib finished seventh in the men’s 200m premium with a time of 21.47 seconds. Meanwhile 1 500m national champion David Dam finished sixth with a personal best of 1:48.63 in the 800m men’s premium.

The 400m women’s premium saw Innocentia Haingura finish eighth with a time of 1:00.98 while the women’s 4x100m relay team won bronze in a time of 46.14 seconds and the men’s team finished sixth in 40.70 seconds.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency