Online Reporter
Howard Musonza
Head — Zimpapers Sports Hub
IN the fiercely competitive world of athletics, where milliseconds make legends, Zimbabwe has often lingered in the shadows of global powerhouses.
Success came in fleeting moments: a Chimusasa charge here, a Dzingai final there, brilliant, but isolated. Now, that is changing.
A new energy is pulsing through Zimbabwe athletics; not a lone star, but a wave.
From the dusty tracks of Mwenezi to the lightning-fast lanes of United States college meets, Zimbabwe is no longer just showing up. It is showing out. At the forefront of this revival is 24-year-old Tapiwanashe Makarawu, the poster athlete of a new era, who is currently based in the United States.
In 2024, he stormed into sixth place at the Paris Olympics, clinched silver at the African Senior Championships in Douala, and then, from afar, stole the show at Zimbabwe’s National Sports Awards. Though thousands of miles away, his pre-recorded acceptance speech after winning both Sportsman and Overall Sportsperson of the Year echoed across Harare like a victory lap.
When his father stepped forward to accept the award in his absence, it was more than a proud paternal moment.
It was a symbol of transition: from years of unmet promise to a new chapter of presence on the global stage.
Makarawu is not just sprinting; he is spearheading. The heart of this revolution may lie far from the glitz of Olympic finals, but in the blistering rural grit of Mwenezi, where 16-year-old Jackson Nyamazana runs barefoot, chasing not just personal bests, but a way out.
From Chitemere village, Nyamazana has shattered expectations.
His 8:48.38 in the 3 000m race has earned him a place at the Africa U18/U20 Championships in Algeria. His biggest obstacle is not a rival athlete; it is the cost of a plane ticket.
“We never saw it coming,” admitted coach Stephen Mpofu, who now doubles as his trainer, guardian and fundraiser.
For all the metrics that define athletics — seconds, metres and medals — it is Nyamazana’s story that captures the essence of Zimbabwe’s athletic rebirth.
It is a story of hunger, heart and hope. And he is not alone. Statistically, 2025 is shaping up to be Zimbabwe’s finest season in decades.
Sprinter Makanakaishe Charamba lit up the Percy Beard Track in Florida with a world-leading 19.99 seconds in the 200m race, the only sub-20 time globally at that point.
He anchored a 4x100m relay team that clocked 38.39, the fastest NCAA time and sixth fastest in the world.
Meanwhile, Vimbayi Maisvorewa smashed through barriers with a blistering 50.25s in the women’s 400m, the eighth fastest globally.
On the cusp of breaking the sub-50 barrier, she now stands as the greatest female quarter-miler Zimbabwe has produced.
David Nyamufarira clocked a tantalising 10.02s in the 100m, a heartbeat away from the World Championships ticket.
In field events, Tafadzwa Chikomba’s 8.06m long jump and Chengetai Mapaya’s triple jump silver in Douala signalled that Zimbabwe was once again leaping into elite company.
These are not hopeful stats. They are medal-chasing, record-breaking, history-bending figures.
Yet, raw times alone do not explain a renaissance. They are the output of something deeper, and that is where the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (NAAZ) has changed its game.
At the helm of this institutional pivot is technical director Phakamile Lisimati, equal parts coach, visionary and evangelist.
A school teacher in Matabeleland South, Lisimati has become the architect of a decentralised athletics model that is breathing life into once-forgotten provinces.
“In the past, athletics was seasonal, a first term sport,” he reflects.
“Now, we’re building a culture.”
Clubs in Matabeleland South are no longer weekend experiments; they are development hubs, linked by inter-school, inter-club and inter-district competitions.
The old urban bias is giving way to rural pipelines. Blanket Mine is sponsoring grassroots training camps. Coaches are being certified. Talents are no longer being lost to football.
“We’re creating systems,” Lisimati says.
“Sustainable ones.”
Nowhere is this national project more visible than at White City Stadium in Bulawayo, which, a fortnight ago, erupted with youthful zeal during the Junior Championships.
Over a thousand athletes converged for selection trials ahead of the Region 5 Games in Namibia. The crowd, the colours and the energy — it was less a competition, more a cultural moment.
A record number of over 200 junior female athletes participated, the product of deliberate policy shifts embedded in NAAZ’s Five-Year Strategic Plan (2024-2028), focused on youth empowerment and gender equity.
“This is not just about medals,” said NAAZ vice president Siphatisiwe Machaya.
“It’s about movement. The girl child is rising, and sport is her voice.”
The carnival around the stadium, exhibitions, scholarships and health screenings reflected an athletics ecosystem trying to grow its roots deeper than ever before.
Zimbabwe has never been known as a sprinting powerhouse, but that is beginning to change.
Kenya and Ethiopia own distance, Nigeria and South Africa own sprints, but Zimbabwe is charting its own lane.
Athletes like Charamba, Makarawu and Nyamufarira are not anomalies.
They are indicators of a new sprinting identity. With access to better training, global meets, nutrition, sports science and digital analytics, Zimbabwe is no longer exporting athletes to simply train abroad; it is sending them to win.
As Lisimati puts it, “We’ve always had talent. We just didn’t have the map.”
Yet, all revolutions come with risks, and Zimbabwe’s is no exception.
For all the soaring times and filled stadiums, many athletes still train on gravel, sleep in boarding school dorms or pray for flight tickets.
Outside football and cricket, corporate sponsorship is still a trickle. Most athletes crowdfund or borrow.
And without funding, this revival could easily unravel.
The challenge is not talent. It is traction.
For every Charamba blazing trails in Florida, there is a Nyamazana wondering if his or her dream ends at the airport.
If Zimbabwe is to move from resurgence to dominance, then corporates must follow where the athletes are already leading.
With the World Championships in Tokyo approaching and Olympic dreams gaining traction, Zimbabwe stands at the edge of something rare, a turning point.
The results say it. The rhythm confirms it. The system now supports it.
From barefoot dreams in Mwenezi to medal-laden runs in Gainesville, Zimbabwe athletics is no longer waiting for recognition.
It is demanding it with times, titles and tenacity. The race is not over. But at last, Zimbabwe is no longer chasing. It is charging.
