‘‰‹™‡ „Žƒ‡• •–ƒ‰‡ ˆ”‹‰Š– FOCUS ON 2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: Eyes on ‘Swazi Bolt’ today
MBABANE – It was not easy for sprinter Bongiwe Mahlalela to compete in front of a crowd of over 20 000 people.
Mahlalela clocked 12:05 seconds in her first event, which was 100m heats this past Tuesday. A false start in her heat caused her stage fright. Mahlalela will be back this morning competing in her last event, which is the 200m.
There are over 1.3 million tickets sold for the games and this is the most attended edition of the Commonwealth Games ever to take place in the United Kingdom (UK).
“First of all I’m not feeling bad. I was intimidated by the people in the stadium and it became worse when we had a false start. The weather is also not good but I believe I did well,” she said.
Mahlalela is competing for the first time in such high-profile games. She currently dominates women sprinters in the country, after taking over from retired Phumlile Ndzinisa.
MBABANE – Focus in the ongoing 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games turns to the country’s fastest man in Sibusiso ‘Swazi Bolt’ Matsenjwa.
The 34-year-old will start his journey this afternoon at 12:54pm (local time) and he will compete in 200 metres (m).
He is also set to compete in the 4x100m relay tomorrow if member Ayanda Malaza heals from the injury he suffered on Tuesday in the 100m heats. The other relay team members are Menziwokuhle Msibi and Benele Dlamini.
Sprinter Bongiwe Mahlalela will also compete in her last event, which is the 200m this morning at 11:25am local time. Mahlalela was on the track on Tuesday and she ran the 100m where she finished sixth with a time of 12:05 seconds.
Matsenjwa made the country proud in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games where he broke two national records in 200m and reached the semi-finals of the competitions. He was the first liSwati to do so in sprints in such high-profile games. “I’m feeling good and ready to execute my race according to plan and proceed to semi-finals set for Friday. The atmosphere is good here in
England. I have adjusted well from all the traveling from America and time zones,” he said.
Matsenjwa started in the United States of America (USA) for the Athletics World Championships before he joined the team in Birmingham for the Commonwealth.
The Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) sprinter said he would be pleased if he could clock at least less than 20:80/ 70 seconds as he believed that with that time he could make it to the next round.
He said the target was to reach the semifinals and then take if form there. Matsenjwa will be facing big guns in athletics.