All three of Namibia’s athletes who were in action on the second day of the African Athletics Championships failed to make the finals of their respective events.
After the shock disqualification of Tjipekapora Herunga in the women’s 400m on Wednesday, Globine Mayova, Hitjiverue Kaanjuka and Frank Puriza were all eliminated in the semifinals on Thursday.
Mayova narrowly missed out on a place in the final after coming third in her heat in a time of 11,91 seconds.
This was the ninth fastest time of the semifinal heats, with the result that she just missed out on a place amongst the top eight finalists.
Mayova also failed to reach the Olympic B qualifying time of 11,38 seconds and will now have to focus on the 200m which starts on Saturday.
In the men’s 100m semifinal heats, Kaanjuka came seventh in Heat 3 in a time of 10,66 seconds. This was the 18th fastest time of the semifinal heats with the result that he failed to qualify for the top eight final.
Kaanjuka’s time was well below the Olympic B qualifying time and he, too, will now have to focus on the 200m which starts on Saturday.
In the men’s 400m semifinal heats, Frank Puriza came sixth in Heat 3 in a time of 47,13 which was the 12th fastest time, resulting in him also missing the 400m final. His time was also well below the Olympic B qualifying time of 45,90 seconds.
In the men’s 800m, Daniel Nghipandulwa came fifth in Heat 3 in a time of 1:50,85 which was well below his Namibian record of 1:46,62, as well as the Olympic B qualifying time of 1:46,30.
Namibian coach Letu Hamhola said they were disappointed at not making the finals and would now just try to work harder.
“Today we wanted to make the finals but unfortunately it was not to be. Globine closely missed out on the final, while Frank ran his season’s best time of 47,13 - they all tried their best but it was not to be. We just have to work harder to get into the finals, but we are encouraged by how they performed,” he said.
Hamhola said they were still aiming to win a medal for Namibia.
“On Friday we all have a rest day and then on Saturday Roger Haitengi will be in action in the triple jump; Globine, Tjipe, Hitch and Frank will run in the 200m heats and Daniel will run in the 1 500m heats. So we will prepare for that because we want to be there during the finals on Sunday to be in contention for a podium position,” he said.