Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, [email protected]
BULAWAYO sprinter Thandazani Ndhlovu on Tuesday made a strong warning to Lewis Banda’s 22-year-old 400m record of 44.58 seconds when he clocked 44.64 seconds in Budapest, Hungary.
The former Sobukhazi High School star, among the outstanding runners of the Bakers Inn 2024 Bulawayo Province team, finished fourth with a remarkable time of 44.64 seconds in a race won by Zambian Muzala Samukonga in 44.02.
This is now his personal best in a season in which he ran a split time of 43.92 seconds in the semi-final leg of the World Relays in Botswana last May. The effort represents the fastest ever relay time over the 4x400m relay run by a Zimbabwean.
He anchored the 4x400m relay team to a new national record of 2 minutes 59.01 seconds, though unlucky not to win a medal in Ghana at the African Senior Championships, Ndhlovu anchored the relay team to a gold medal in Accra as Dennis Hove won silver and Leeford Zuze bronze in the individual race.
Prior to Tuesday’s race Ndhlovu had two other outstanding times of 44.71 and 44.73 seconds.
Ndhlovu remains one of the country’s big stage hopefuls and at 21 he still has a long way to go and may rise to a medal hopeful with good management on and off the track.
This year, Ndhlovu managed alongside his teammates to form an athletics club called Fastlane Crew which trains at Sobukhazi High School in Bulawayo.
