CHIDZIVO REMAINS POSITIVE
LONG distance runner Fortunate Chidzivo is staying positive ahead of her next race as she chases qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Games are running from July 26 to August 11.
Chidzivo, who has been shuttling between Zimbabwe and South Africa, is back in Cape Town, South Africa where she is working under the guidance of her coach Chris Bruwer.
With the qualification window for marathon closing on April 30, Chidzivo is aware time is running out but she is staying positive.
“I am back in South Africa and I am training. We are aiming Paris 2024.
“My coach is based in Cape Town, so he saw the need for me to come down to Cape Town so that he is able to assess all the important sessions. That’s the only development we have.
“I am trying as best as I can to stay positive like I don’t want to remind myself about the past, I just want to be focused on the race that I am going to run.
“I want to be focused, I want to stay positive. The main thing is to stay positive, so I don’t have much to say about my chances,” said Chidzivo.
The qualifying time for women is 2hours 26minutes 50seconds and 2hours 8minutes 10seconds for men.
Chidzivo represented the country at the World Athletics Championships last year in August, in Budapest, Hungary where she finished on position 55 in 2hours 43minutes 28seconds.
Chidzivo noted that she has been struggling with injuries but has made some positive strides in terms of recovery working with her team in South Africa.
“These are the people I have worked with for a very long time and they managed to help me prevent injuries in the past, for all those years I was running in Cape Town.”
Initially, Seville Marathon set for February 18 was among the races they were considering. But Chidzivo feels she still needs more time to be adequately prepared for her next race.
They are now looking at races in Italy and Germany due to take place in April.
Being in the final stages of qualification, the seasoned long distance run