Namibian sprinter Louise Segaria and middle-distance runner Finamekeni Hamutenya are in contention to win Namibia’s first silverware at the 2023 Special Olympics World Games underway in Berlin, Germany.
Segaria reached the women’s Level A 200m final on Monday afternoon after finishing fourth in heat six of that event. The Namibian sprinter, who earlier in the day competed in the standing long jump event, ran a personal best of 30.11 seconds to book a spot in the elite race of the women’s Level A competition.
Her previous personal best was 30.33 seconds.
Sele Barrios of Venezuela won the Level A 200m heat with a time of 27.46 seconds, a much-improved performance from her race on Sunday, when she clocked a time of 28.25 seconds, which was at the time the fastest time from all the heats.
Ghanaian sprinter Marie Zalo finished second in the semi-finals with a time of 29.08 seconds, while Catlin Romer from the Bahamas closed out the top three positions with a time of 29.26 seconds.
Meanwhile, middle-distance runner Hamutenya, who reached the men’s 800m final on Monday morning, will also be in action on Tuesday. He now has a mammoth task of once again outrunning Kenyan runner Daniel Mutiso, who won the 1 500m semi-finals against him on Sunday.
On Monday afternoon, the Namibian 3×3 basketball team lost its first division game 1-3 against Uruguay, but then managed to upset host nation Germany 5-2 in their second game at the championships.
This year’s championships, dubbed as one of the most inclusive, will see over 6 500 Special Olympics athletes and unified partners (athletes without intellectual disabilities) from 176 delegations competing for silverware in the different sporting codes.
The games are being held under the theme #UnbeatableTogether, and athletes are united in taking the Special Olympics oath promising, ‘Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.’
Source: The Namibian Press Agency