It was a weekend of contrasting fortunes for Namibia’s sprint sensations Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, with the evergreen Mboma clocking a remarkable but wind-aided time of 10.90 seconds to win the 100m at the Little Rock Twilight Track and Field Meet in the US on Saturday.

Mboma, Namibia’s Tokyo Olympics 200m silver medallist and serial continental champion, was in fine form, as she was shortly back in the mix of things to take home the 200m crown in 22.61 seconds.

It was, however, a sad twist of events for Mboma’s partner in crime Masilingi, who could not compete in both events due to an injury. 

Their coach Henk Botha confirmed Masilingi’s injury and expressed dejection over the unfortunate setback, which has the potential to jeopardise their plans for the upcoming athletics season.

“We didn’t allow Beatrice to run the 100m and 200m today (Saturday) because he has an injury, and we didn’t want to take any chances with her. She just started feeling some pain after the relay race, and we immediately decided to rest her. Our tour is done here in the US; we will be returning home – and once we are settled, we will properly assess the seriousness of Beatrice’s injury and decide the way forward for her,” said Botha.

“But as for Christine, we are proud of her performance and looking forward to more competitions. She did well here and now we just have to build further on that progress. It won’t be an easy season this year, but we will be ready.”

With Jamaica’s two-time Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah having clocked the fastest 100m time (10.89 seconds) in the world this year at the Golden Games in California on Saturday, the young Mboma is not far off her heels – and with further adequate preparations, Mboma will soon be breathing down her neck in both the 100m and 200m events.

- ohembapu@nepc.com.na