Online Reporter
MAKANAKAISHE Charamba can strengthen his bid for a place in next month’s Wanda Diamond League Final when he faces Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo and series leader Sinesipho Dambile in Lausanne tonight.
The Zimbabwean is fifth in the men’s 200m standings with 13 points, level with American Courtney Lindsey but ahead on the season-best tie-break.
Dambile leads the standings with 28 points and is the only athlete in the event to have formally secured his place in Brussels.
Tebogo is second with 22 points, followed by American Kenneth Bednarek on 16 and Cuba’s Reynier Mena on 14.
Eight places are available in the sprint events, although one can be awarded through a national or global wildcard.
Charamba is six points ahead of eighth-placed Cheickna Traore, but his place is not yet secure, with Lausanne tonight and Zurich next Thursday still to be contested.
Of the four athletes above him, only Dambile and Tebogo will compete in Lausanne. Bednarek and Mena are not in tonight’s field, giving Charamba an opportunity to move closer to Brussels.
Charamba goes into the race ranked seventh in the world.
He will also face Puerto Rico’s José Figueroa, Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, Lindsey, Brandon Hicklin of the United States and Switzerland’s Timothé Mumenthaler.
Four athletes in the field have broken 19.90 seconds this year.
Dambile leads them with the 19.74 seconds he ran to win in Doha, followed by Figueroa on 19.76, Tebogo on 19.84 and Charamba on 19.88.
Charamba first clocked 19.88 seconds at the Lone Star Grand Prix in College Station, Texas, on June 6 before matching it at the Doha Diamond League two weeks later.
It is the joint-fastest time by a Zimbabwean this year, level with Tapiwanashe Makarawu’s season’s best.
Charamba collected seven Diamond League points by finishing second behind Dambile in Doha.
He added another six in Eugene, where he crossed the line in 20.11 seconds behind American Tate Taylor and Tebogo.
The 24-year-old reached the 200m final at the 2024 Paris Olympics and advanced to the semi-finals at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo.
Tonight’s race at the Stade de la Pontaise is scheduled for 9.41pm Zimbabwean time.
Charamba’s participation in the final qualifying race in Zurich next Thursday has not yet been confirmed.
The Brussels final is a winner-takes-all contest, with the champion receiving the Diamond Trophy and guaranteed entry into the 200m at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest. — Sports Reporter/World Athletics.org
