Could it be Ashley Miller’s hour in Doula?

ZIMBABWE hurdler Ashley Miller will seek to be the first female Zimbabwean to represent the country in the discipline when she takes part in the African Senior Championships, which begin in Doula, Cameroon on Friday.

A medallist at this year’s African Games, Miller will take part in the 100m and 400m hurdles. Africa will parade some of the top athletes that hail from the continent who are medal hopefuls in Paris with decent rankings in the world.

Their times give hope of appearances in the final at the Olympics to be hosted by France next month. It is the quality of the field that gives Tendai Tagara, the president of the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe a glimmer of hope that history could be in the making.

Should she impress in both events, Miller may run a qualifying time for Paris. In the 100m, she needs to improve her time to equal or better the 13.59 seconds and 56.63 seconds in the 400m. The qualifying standard for the 100m is 12.77 seconds and 54.85 for the 400m.

She is ranked 12th in Africa in shorter hurdles event with Ghana’s Tobi Awusani boasting the best of 12.40 seconds well inside the qualifying mark.

The other 11 athletes, Miller included, are yet to qualify and would have to defy odds stacked against them to squeeze. Awusani is second best in the world, with the second best in the continent Ebony Morrison of Liberia number two in Africa with a time of 12.84 seconds.

Morrison is 51st in the world while the eighth positioned Kayla Van der Bergh who could occupy the last lane if the top eight were to run straight out according to rankings is 238th in the world. Miller, who is 12th in Africa and 435th in the world, will certainly benefit from the quality competition to better her time or even qualify.

But she has shown stronger performances among her African compatriots by being ranked sixth in the 400m hurdles, two seconds off the qualifying standard of 54.85 seconds with her season’s best. Miller has run the event in 56.63 seconds.

South African Zeney Geldenhuys has the best time of 54.72 seconds. She has already qualified for Paris and her compatriot, Rogail Joseph, is the second best and has a time of 54.84 seconds well inside the Paris mark of 54.84.

Having chosen to run for the country of her parents’ birth ahead of the United States of America, the patriotic 26-year-old is set to run an emotional race for the flag.