Swakopmund — Olympic silver medallist Christine Mboma is not yet sure whether she will continue racing over 100m, saying she was just trying it out.
Mboma won the women’s 100m sprint in her first attempt in Swakopmund Saturday in a time of 11.25 seconds, followed by fellow Olympian Beatrice Masilingi, who clocked 11.37, while Ndawana Haitembu came third with a time of 12.32.
“The race was good and nice. I enjoyed competing with the other athletes – but the issue of me taking on the 100m, I am not yet sure about it because I was just trying out something new. Time will definitely tell if I will continue competing in the 100m,” she said soon after the race that was part of the first leg of the Athletics Namibia (AN) Grand Prix.
Masilingi performed way below her personal best of 11.20s, which is a Namibian national junior record.
Haitembu, who was part of the women’s 4×100 relay team at the World Junior Championships in Kenya last year, felt this is a good start to her season.
“I am very proud of myself, and I aim to work on improving my personal best as well as to qualify for international competitions, despite my hectic schedule,” Haitembu told Nampa.
She was part of the Unam Athletics Club’s 4×100 m women’s team that won the three-team race. Unam also topped the leader board with a combined team score of 94 points.
The current women’s world record of 10.49 was set by Florence Griffith-Joyner of the US on 16 July 1988.
Meanwhile, Erongo Sports Officer Berthold Karumendu said, together with AN, they hope to make athletics one of the most-followed sports codes in the country.
“The first leg of the AN Grand Prix was definitely a success. Looking at the number of athletes that showed up, the teams put up a great show to watch. We had new athletes, and we hope they enjoyed competing here,” he said.
“The main core goals as for now is to work hard, together with AN, to ensure that athletics becomes one of Namibia’s biggest followed sport codes. There has been so much interest from the public. They have started watching athletics and make time to attend this event, which shows that there is a possibility.”
“We also want to create a conducive environment for local athletes to use most of these platforms to qualify for major events such as All Africa Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games,” he added.
The second leg of the competition will take place on Saturday in Windhoek, with the addition of the 200m, 800m, women’s 5000m and other field events.
– Nampa