KAMPALA: Uganda’s middle distance runners, Halima Nakaayi and Winnie Nanyondo, have arrived in Belgrade, Serbia to take part in the World Athletics Indoor Championships.
To make up for not having this event for four years, it will be held from March 18th to 20th again.
There were only two people from Uganda at the meeting, and they left two days ago after getting a lot of training.
Nakaayi will be competing in the 800m race, while the 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, Nanyondo, will be competing in the 1500m race at the event.
Keely Hodgkinson, a silver medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and Natoya Goule, from Jamaica, are two of the best athletes in the world. Nakaayi will be competing against a very good group of athletes.
According to the current rankings, Nakaayi sits third on the log with her time of 1 minute and 59.58 seconds, below Hodgkinson, who has the best time of the season, standing at 1:57.20, while Goule has 1:58.46.
Nakaayi has been improving her form since the beginning of the season, running a good time and most recently in the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver event in France, where she became the first woman to run under 2 minutes this year.
Having struggled to find her good form last year after suffering a knee problem in April, the 800m reigning world champion was far below her best before and after the Tokyo Olympic Games. At the Olympic Games, Nakaayi fell out before the finals of the 800m, coming last in the semifinals in a time of 2:04.44.
In the same development, Nanyondo, who equally didn’t impress in the Olympics, will face stiff competition in the 1500m race. Nanyondo’s season-best is 4:03.54 minutes, putting her sixth-best in the season.
Nanyondo will battle the Ethiopian duo of Gudaf Tsegay, who has the best time in the season at 3:54.77 minutes, and Axumawit Embaye.