Otniel Hembapu
Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Christine Mboma and fellow finalist Beatrice Masilingi will this Friday be in action at the 2021 Brussels Diamond League in Belgium, seeking to continue their ripening rise on the international athletics circuit.
The two Namibian sprint sensations, both 18 years of age, have been on an unstoppable medal-collecting crusade, which saw Mboma scooping a historic silver medal in the women’s 200m at the Tokyo Games.
She added to her already booming trophy cabinet when she won a gold medal in the 200m and silver in the 4×100m relay at the recent World U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, where Masilingi also claimed three silver medals in the 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay.
With both still much rejuvenated by their recent feats at global level, the marauding Namibian teens yesterday left for Brussels along with their coach Henk Botha, and their mission remains the same – dominate and break new barriers. They will both compete in the 200m event.
The two will, however, face stiff competition at the upcoming Brussels Diamond League, as seasoned campaigners such as reigning Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain, Marie-Josée Ta Lou of Ivory Coast and Sha’Carri Richardson of the US will all be in action, along with other rising stars.
The Brussels Diamond League, also known as the Allianz Memorial Van Damme, is the penultimate of the Wanda Diamond League – the circuit of the world’s biggest meetings.
The last leg of the serial athletics meetings will be the Zürich Diamond League, slated for 8-9 September in Switzerland, to which Namibia's golden girls have also been invited.
Ahead of their departure, coach Botha told Nampa the coming race in Brussels presents another opportunity for both runners to cement their status and further bolster their rising dominance in the short distances.
“The Diamond League is the cream of the competitions as far as the non-Olympics or World Championships competitions are concerned. This is where professional athletes take part in their private capacity. Participation is by invitation. We showed interest, and they first invited Christine before extending the invite to Beatrice, and we accepted,” he said.
The Diamond League awards points to athletes according to the positions at the end of each race, with the overall winner declared the Diamond League Champion. The top eight athletes at each meeting are awarded points (8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1), and these points determine which athletes qualify for the discipline finals in Zürich and Brussels.
The allocation of the overall prize money is determined solely by the results of the final.