RYAN Williams was the star performer at the National Athletics Championships which took place in Windhoek over the weekend.
The 19-year-old Williams won the men’s discus event with a throw of 45,51 metres, which was just outside his national record of 45,95m which he established two years ago.
It was also the fourth consecutive year that Williams had won the discus event at the National Championships, while he won a second gold medal in the shot put event with a distance of 14,08m.
Williams is one of three athletes who had previously qualified for the African Junior Championships which take place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast next weekend. The others are javelin thrower Johan Smit who won the event with a distance of 59,13m on Saturday, and sprinter Theron Human, who came fourth in the senior men’s 100m in a time of 10,77 seconds.
Besides Williams, though, the performances were not very impressive with no one coming close to breaking any national records.
Dantago Gurirab of Khomas won the men’s 100m in 10,57 seconds, while Ernst Narib of Khomas won the 200m in 20,99.
Mahmad Bock of Khomas won the men’s 400m in 46,56, while Daniel Nghipandulwa of Khomas won the 800m in 1:53,81.
Jeremia Shaliaxwe of Khomas won the 1 500m in 3:55,06, while Kefas Kondjashili of Khomas won the 5 000m in 14:41,89, and Daniel Paulus of Ohangwena won the 10 000m in 31:21,34.
Mell Theunissen of Khomas won the 110m hurdles in 16,65 seconds, while Warren Goreseb of Khomas won the 400m hurdles in 56,51.
Aino Mushila of Khomas won both the men’s 100m and 200m T11 sprints in respective times of 12,01 and 24,27 seconds, with Amos Kinda of Khomas a close second in both events with respective times of 12,30 and 24,91 seconds.
The men’s high jump saw a close battle between Emmanuel Samantu and Wenceslaus Klaasman, both of Khomas, with the former winning with a height of 2,08m to 2,05m.
The men’s long jump also saw a close contest, with Sandro Diergaardt of Hardap (7,41m) just beating Chenault Coetzee of Erongo (7,35m), while Gregg Makari of Khomas won the triple jump with a distance of 14,43m.
In the women’s track events, Tjipekapora Herunga of Khomas won both the 200m in 24,62 and the 400m in 54,48, while Jolene Jacobs of Khomas won the 100m in 11,80 seconds.
Salmi Ndiviteko of Khomas and Kalinasho Matana of Oshana also both won two titles.
Ndiviteko won the 800m in 2:18,34 and the 1 500m in 4:50,02, while Matana won the 5 000m in 19:17,56 and the 10 000m in 39:25,07.
Nathalie Louw of Khomas and the 16-year-old Chrislene Nienaber-Klein of Erongo were involved in a fierce rivalry in the hurdles and jumping events.
Nienaber-Klein won the 100m hurdles in 15,43 seconds, with Louw finishing second in 15,63 seconds, while Louw won the high jump with 1,71m, while Nienaber-Klein came second with 1,65m.
Louw won a second gold medal in the long jump with a distance of 5,65m, while another 16-year-old athlete, Kay-Lee Cloete of Khomas won the triple jump with a distance of 10,04m.
Karlien Botha of Khomas won the shot put with a distance of 11,48m; Chriselda Jenkins of Khomas won the discus with a distance of 38,13m; and Roche Venter of Erongo won the javelin throw with a distance of 36,11m.
