Four athletes qualify for  world championships Cuthbert Nyasango
Cuthbert Nyasango

Cuthbert Nyasango

Lovemore Dube Senior Sports Editor
FOUR Zimbabwean marathon runners have already qualified for next year’s World Athletics Championships after running times better than the prescribed 2 hours 18 minutes this year.

Their times were also good enough for the All-Africa Games.

This should be welcome news to the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe. What is important now is for the athletes to be put into a monitored programme so that their own events allow enough rest and recuperation ahead of August 22-30 next year.

The World Championships will be held in China’s city of Beijing.

National record holder in the marathon Cuthbert Nyasango leads the pack of qualifiers which includes Cephas Pasipamire, Gilbert Mutandiro and little known Munyaradzi Jari.

On May 11 this year in the Czech Republic, Nyasango ran a national record effort of 2 hours 09 minutes 52 seconds when finishing third in the Praha Marathon.

Pasipamire always among the top performers in the distance in recent years, made sure with another “A” Standard qualifying time of 2 hours 14 minutes 41 seconds. This was in Pyongyang on April 13.

Mutandiro was third in a Mossel Bay clocking 2 hours 15 minutes 50 seconds. In the same race countryman Jari was fourth in a time of 2 hours 16 minutes 54 seconds.

Another notable performer was track star Gabriel Mvumvure with a time of 10,07 seconds in the 100m, good enough too for Major events.

The marathon, Ngoni Makusha’s long jump and the 4x100m relay team are Zimbabwe’s biggest hope in international athletics.

You Might Also Like

Comments