Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
AS he shifts focus to his first international race for this year, Godwin Katakura is looking at setting a new personal best.
The ultimate goal is to qualify for next year’s World Athletics Championships.
He will be part of the field at the Hannover Marathon in Germany on April 12, and is rounding off his preparations for his next assignment.
Katakura has been competing in local marathons, building the momentum for his first major race of the year.
Katakura is one of the athletes that have drawn the interest of the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe ahead of next year’s World Athletics Championships.
“My goal for 2026 is to run a personal best and fighting for qualification to the World Championships, and the Olympics in the near future.
“I am hoping for a PB at the Hannover Marathon. If I can run a new PB, I would have achieved my goal because that’s my focus at the moment.
“The World Championships, it’s part of the plan. But we will sit down with the coach when I am back from Germany, to work on the way forward,” said Katakura.
His current personal best is 2 hours 11 minutes 2 seconds posted last year at the Durban International Marathon in South Africa.
It has been a busy first quarter of the year for the Cadence Athletics Club runner. He began his season with the World Cross Country Championships in January, representing Zimbabwe in the senior men’s section.
It was his debut appearance at a world stage.
He then went for local road races including the CBZ Marathon, where he emerged top.
“In terms of preparations, I have done everything one needs to do when preparing for a marathon.
“I have worked on endurance, I have done all my long runs, and of late I have been working on speed but it’s just final touches.
“We have reduced the workload now, I am just doing light training, and I am ready for the race.
“I am confident of the groundwork we covered because 42km is more about endurance and I have done all trainings for endurance. I did all the sessions for speed.
“I have no doubts on my preparation,” said Katakura.
Katakura said his appearance at the Volksbank Munster Marathon last year was a learning curve and it helped him have an appreciation of what it takes to go up against some of the top runners from across the world.
“I think I now know what to expect.
“When I went to Germany I met athletes from Kenya, Ethiopia and they are the best, so it helped to identify areas that needed improvement.”
