Chronicle Editor
Fungai Muderere, Sport Reporters
REIGNING Athlete of the Year, Isaac Mpofu revealed yesterday that his target was to finish in the top 10 at the Paris Olympics Games marathon held yesterday morning.
Mpofu finished on position 19 after reaching home in two hours 10 minutes 09 seconds. Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola won the gold with a record time of two hours 06 minutes 26 seconds.
Bashir Abdi of Belgium won silver while Kenya’s Benson Kipruto got the bronze medal. Abdi clocked two hours 06 minutes 47 seconds while Kipruto finished after two hours 07 minutes.
Four-time Olympic medalist Eluid Kipchoge failed to finish the race owing to a suspected injury.
“Everything was okay but the training was challenging but I copped well. The time that I got was well and that was our target. I tried my best. The terrain was very tough and the weather conditions were challenging. I’m happy although I wanted a top 10 but that was the outcome of the day. I thank God and I will try and prepare for the next coming games. To be honest the preparations were very tough. I’m happy that we managed to come here while I was injury free. It was a challenging day and a good experience for me,” said Mpofu.
As part of his build-up to the Games, Mpofu, who is the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe Athlete of the Year, took part in the Boston Marathon this year and finished sixth in 2 hours 8 minutes 17 seconds.
He won bronze for Zimbabwe in the half marathon at the African Games, held in Accra Ghana in March. Earlier he had won the FNB Kazungula Bridge Marathon, in February.
Mpofu also competed in the Tanganda half-marathon where he finished on position three before winning the half-marathon at the Econet Victoria Falls event in the final phase of his preparation.
The Zimbabwe national record holder sealed his place at the quadrennial showpiece in December, 2022 when running 2 hours 6 minutes 48 seconds at the Valencia Marathon. He was out to leave a mark on his Olympic debut.
Meanwhile, Rutendo Nyahora, who was training under the guidance of her coach Lindsey Parry in South Africa, is set to take to the field today.
Nyahora and Mpofu linked up in Doha on their way to Paris, and Benson Chauke was in charge of the two athletes during the Games.
Nyahora is competing at the Olympics for the second time having competed at the Rio 2016 Games.
“Rutendo was working in South Africa. We were always in touch, checking on how she was progressing with the work with her coach. There isn’t much really that you can put in now. Here we were just polishing up and we will see how it will work out on the day (today). Chance and opportunities will happen on the day.
“So, we are going up there saying on our preparations, we have done all we thought is the best way for us to prepare with where we are, from where we are coming from, with the experience that we have. We will give it our all as we go into the competition,” said Chauke. – @FungaiMuderere
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