Nyahora hoping for better 2017

ZIMBABWE’S top female long-distance runner Rutendo Nyahora is hoping for better fortunes as she resumes competition for 2017 with the IAAF World Championships being one of her major events this year.

The championships are one of the high-profile events the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe are looking forward to.

According to the national association, so far, seven long-distance runners — five male and two female have made the grade for marathon at the global show-piece in London from August 4 to 13.

And Nyahora is one of the athletes expected to represent the country following her qualification last year when she ran 2hours 39minutes 58seconds at the Vienna City marathon.

The qualification standard for the championships is 2hours 19minutes for men and 2hours 45minutes for women.

The Vienna City marathon is the same race that earned her the ticket to the Olympic Games in Brazil where she finished on position 92 in 2hrs 47mins 32sec out of 157 athletes.

Nyahora said her target is to surpass her performance at the Olympics.

“I have already qualified for the World Championships marathon. So I am hoping to do better compared to Rio.

“I think the exposure I got in Rio will help me a lot this time around because in Rio it was my first time to take part in such a big race with big guns and I was too nervous,” said Nyahora.

Nyahora left the country for South Africa on Friday where she competes in various races and had her first half marathon on Sunday in 1hour 20minutes in Johannesburg.

“I ran my first race yesterday (Sunday) and came third. It was the Johnson Crane, it’s one of the small races. I am trying to get into shape because it has been long time since my last race,” Nyahora said.

The 28-year-old said she is also looking forward to the Two Oceans 21km and Spar Ladies 10km in April.

NAAZ president, Tendai Tagara, said while the long-distance runners appear to be doing well in terms of qualification for major events, they were concerned over sprints events.

“For sprinters to be frank we have more than 20 athletes in America but the standard for the sprinters, we struggled to qualify for the Olympics and for the World Championships the qualification (standard) is a bit higher.

“So we don’t expect more than three to qualify.

“Sprinters started qualifying in October and because they started in October there wasn’t much activity in terms of events.

“Sprinters are still pushing and around March to April that’s when we expect to see if we have any that qualify.

“The cut-off date is July 28 while for marathon its end of April because they need at least three months to prepare,” said Tagara.