Jacobs, Hainuca star at Khomas meet

JOLENE Jacobs and Gilbert Hainuca were the stars of the show at the first leg of the Khomas Athletics Super League at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium on Saturday.

Had it not been for some technical issues, Jacobs could well have set two national records, while Hainuca came close to a long-standing record held by Frank Fredericks.

According to event organiser Ernst Narib, the wind readings for some of the events were not posted, while only hand times were posted in some of the other events, with the result that the times could not be considered for record purposes.

That’s a pity because Jacobs would almost certainly have posted one and possibly two national records.

She won the little-run 150m in a blistering time of 17,93 seconds, which was the fastest Namibian time yet recorded for the event, but due to a NWI (No Wind Indication) the record cannot stand.

She also won the 60m sprint in a hand time of 7,20 seconds, which converted to electronic time would most probably have broken the national outdoor record of 7,57 seconds that Keshia Kalomo set in 2016, as well as Jacobs’ own indoor record of 7,46 seconds that she set in Birmingham last year.

Hainuca, who recently returned from Jamaica where he had been training with world stars like Asafa Powell and Nesta Carter, won the men’s 60m dash in a blistering 6,60 seconds.

That was the fastest time in Namibia since the days of the legendary Frank Fredericks, who still holds the Namibian indoor 60m record of 6,51 seconds that he set in Toronto, Canada in 1993.

Narib, himself, was also in fine form, winning the senior men’s 100m, 150m and 200m sprints.

He won the 100m in a hand time of 10,3 seconds, with Even Tjiviju and Sydney Kamuaruuma both finishing in 10,4, and the 150m in a new personal best time of 15,47 seconds. (According to Wikipedia, Frank Fredericks still holds the African record of 14,99 seconds which he set in Stuttgart in 1993).

Narib also won the 200m in 21,22 seconds which was just outside his personal best of 20,94 that he set last year, and he said that he was very encouraged by his times.

“I hope to still qualify for the Olympics by reaching the 200m qualifying time of 20,24 seconds. The Khomas Super League was organised just to provide some much needed competition for our athletes from youth level up to seniors, but we can only qualify at Athletics Namibia events, so I hope that they hold their Grand Prix series soon,” he said.

In the girls youth category (15-17 years), Desiree Moolman set some fast times in the sprints, winning the 150m in 19,11 seconds and the 300m in 42,03 seconds, while Alessandra Kaura (5,34m in the long jump) and Leanie Boshoff (40,45m in the discus) were also in fine form.

In the boys youth category, Jaden Januarie of Golden Cheetahs and Ryk Erasmus of Otjiwarongo were in fine form in the sprints, with the former winning the 100m in 10,84 seconds and the latter the 150m in 16,66 seconds.

There were also good performances by Uhorera Mavenjono who won the senior men’s 800m in 1:54,85; Leeor-el Breytenbach who won the youth boys shot put in 16,05m; and Waldre Kotze who won the youth boys discus in 45,72m.

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