Ad image

Nakaayi, Nanyondo start their quest for Olympic gold on Friday morning

admin

David GOMBE

Friday : 3:30am Men’s 3000m Steeplechase Race Round 1-heat 1

Friday : 4:25 am Women’s 800m Round 1

Uganda’s middle distance running pair of Halimah Nakaayi and Winnie Nanyondo on track at the National Stadium in Japan for the 800m round 1 in the early morning hours of Friday.

- Advertisement -

The duo will begin their quest for the 800m race gold medal at 4:25am on Friday.

Nakaayi heads into the race after beating her own national record by a microsecond recording a time of 1:58.03 at the Monaco Diamond League in France earlier this month where she finished seventh.

Nakaayi who won the 800m title at the Doha World Championships in Qatar in 2019 made her Olympic debut at the 2016 games in Rio and her journey stopped in the semifinal heats.

Nanyondo on the other hand will also be aiming for an astonishing display in Japan. The 2014 bronze medalist at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games is however yet to beat the two minute barrier will also be eyeing Tuesday’s final.

In 2018, Nanyondo missed out on a podium finish as she painfully finished fourth at 800m final of the Commonwealth games held in Australia.

The Ugandan pair will however face off with inform athletes such as Jamaican Natoya Goule, Ethiopian Workua Getachew, Cuban Rose Mary Almanza, Canadian Melissa Bishop, German Katharina Trost, Australian Catriona Bisset, American trio of Athing Mu, Raeyvn Rogers and Wilson Ajee.

Meanwhile, Albert Chemutai will make his Olympic debut in the Men’s 3000m steeplechase Heats.

Chemutai in action

He will become the third Ugandan man after Benjamin Kiplagat and Jacob Araptany to take part in the water jump race at the global games.

The 21 year old will aiming to make the final slated for Tuesday, he head into the race with a season best time of 8:23.65.

Uganda went into the games with a 25 man team but now five if six athletes have already exited in Boxing, Rowing and Swimming at the delayed Tokyo games.

Share this Article
Click to Hide Advanced Floating Content
Fortbet
Click to Hide Advanced Floating Content
Fortbet