Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi will use Saturday’s FNB Botswana Grand Prix to gauge their fitness and competitive level, says their mentor, Henk Botha.
The Namibian pair are among the attractions at the star-studded meeting in Gaborone. They will come up against the likes of Ivorian superstar and Africa’s fastest woman, Marie Jose-Talou, in the women’s 100m.
The 21-year-olds have endured a series of misfortunes since taking the world by storm as budding teenagers in the 200m four years ago.
Botha is managing expectations and says the focus is to see how his proteges get on against elite rivals in the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event.
“They were accepted in the Continental Gold Event in Botswana and both of them will be running the 100 metres,” an optimistic Botha said on Monday evening when announcing their return to the track.
“This will be their great comeback and this is our fight to get back to international level. So, don’t expect great times, but I think both of them are ready to be competitive and hopefully we can slowly start making them proud again.”
Recurring injuries coupled with the controversial hormone suppression therapy imposed on the pair by World Athletics, has curtailed their once-promising careers punctuated by sterling displays at the Tokyo Olympics and World u20 Championships in 2021.
They were victims of their own success as World Athletics sidelined them for 20 months after a change to the rules for athletes classed as having differences in sexual development (DSD).
Mboma and Masilingi have been taking medication to lower their naturally occurring testosterone levels.
A return to competitive action last year was brief as injuries struck again.
Mboma looked heavier and sluggish following her long lay-off when she returned to action at the South African Grand Prix in Johannesburg last month.
Masilingi appeared to be getting her groove back until calamity struck late last month when she injured her shoulder while warming up for the women’s 60m heats at the Indoor World Athletics Championships in Nanjing, China.
Saturday’s race will be her first since that setback.
She qualified for the Indoor World Championships on the back of impressive performances on the European circuit in February.
“Thanks to the great doctors at World Athletics and in Nanjing, her shoulder was successfully popped back into place and she is doing much better,” Botha said.
There is looming doubt over the event taking place as planned due to persistent rainfall, according a report by Botswana media outlet The Monitor yesterday.
According to the report, Botswana’s National Sports Commission (BNSC) development director, Makuke Makuke, has suggested that the Grand Prix be postponed by two weeks if the deluge does not subside.
“If the situation continues as it is, I mean the rains, it means there will be no venue for the event. And, if there is no venue for the event, it basically means there could be no event,” Makuke cautioned.
Botswana is the second of the 13 meetings on five different continents that will feature on the 2025 World Athletics Continental Tour Gold calendar.
Gold level action kicked off last month in the Australian city of Melbourne, where Tebogo came second to compatriot Bayapo Ndori in the 400 metres.
The Golden Grand Prix will act as a dress rehearsal of sorts for the World Championships later in the year.
Last year, more than 20 000 athletes from almost 200 countries competed in the Continental Tour, setting one world record, 12 area records, 205 national records and 7 146 personal bests.
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