Athletes representing the Khomas Region reigned supreme on day one of the Athletics Namibia (AN) National Championship currently being held at the Independence Stadium here.
The two-day championship will see athletes that perform exceptionally well throughout the season cementing their positions in the Namibian Team competing at the 2023 Gaborone International Meet in Botswana later this month.
On day one of the championships on Friday, athletes competed in the 100 metres (m), 400m, long-distance and field events with the Khomas region scooping most of the gold medals.
Sprinters Gilbert Hainuca, and Ndawana Haitembu were crowned national champions in the 100m male and female categories respectively while the 400m event saw Mudi-Inosensia Haingura crowned women’s national champion and Andre Retief the male champion.
In the shot-put event, Leeorr-el Breytenbach won the male category with a distance of 15.22m. Karlien Botha, also representing the Khomas region, was crowned women’s discus champion after stiff competition from Tuane Silver. Botha threw with a distance of 43.59m.
The men’s discus throw saw national record holder Ryan William reclaiming his title with a throw of 57.60m which was just 5cm shy of his national record of 57.65m.
Young star Werner Visser who also represented the Khomas region finished second with a distance of 55.79m.
In the men’s 1500m, Thomas Shigwedha put up an impressive performance to shield off his teammate Wilhelm Hangula who came second for the Khomas region.
The third place was taken by an international athlete Manuel Chivela from Angola who competed under his club Pedro Atletico de Luanda.
In the women’s category, the Ohangwena and Omusati regions dominated the 1500m event with Saara Shikongo representing the Ohangwena winning gold while Nyanyukweni Frans and Linea Iita both from Omusati walked away with silver and bronze respectively.
The T53-54 1500m wheelchair race saw Roodley Gowaseb winning gold while his teammate Nico Kharuxab also from the Khomas region walked away with a silver.
At the end of day one of the championships, the Khomas region led with 443 points, followed by Oshikoto and Erongo with 43 and 41 points respectively. Oshana came in fourth place with 31 points and Ohangwena completed the top five positions with 29 points.
Omusati (21) in sixth, Hardap (18) in seventh, Omaheke (13) in eighth, Otjozondjupa (12) in ninth, and Kavango West (7) in 10th position.
Club Petro Atletico de Luanda took the last point position at 11th with six points as other regions failed to register points on the day.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency