BEATA Naigambo’s third place finish in the Hamburg Marathon on Saturday earned her a spot in the upcoming IAAF World Championships.
The Namibian runner clocked a personal best time of two hours, 27 minutes and 28 seconds behind race winner Meseret Hailu of Ethiopia, who ran 2:25:41, and Kenya’s Silvia Kibet, who finished second in a time of 2:26:16.
“This is well inside the qualifying time of 2:44 set by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Only certain marathons can be used for qualifying purposes and the Hamburg Marathon was one of the listed events,” said Athletics Namibia acting secretary-general Frank Slabbert.
Naigambo expressed delight at the achievement and breaking her previous best time mark of 2:27:54 which she set at the Dubai Marathon in 2013 when she finished ninth.
She said the “perfect weather” contributed greatly to her impressive run.
“I was in the leading group until after 35km. I am happy with my time. I improved my personal best today with a few seconds. So I am happy,” said Naigambo, whose next focus is the Southern Africa Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (Sarpcco) Games to be held in Swaziland later this year.
Naigambo’s last elite international outing ended in agony when she dramatically collapsed about 10 metres from the finish line during last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She barely managed to crawl across the finish line before medics rushed to her aid. Almost a year on, the strong-willed athlete is back to her best and credits her Namibian Police colleagues, training partners, coach and her family for helping her get over that excruciating experience.
“I owe a lot to my commanders. Thanks a lot to my coach who is helping me make it look easy to the rest of the world. I am proud of myself for continuing to put my country on the map with the little that I do,” she said.
“Although there are some negative issues in the country I hope my work makes you all proud. To my training group, thanks very much girls and guys,” Naigambo added.
