Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, [email protected]
ZIMBABWEAN athletes are racing against time to achieve qualifying standards for the 2027 World Championships to be held in Beijing, China.
Only the 4x400m relay team, individual athletes, Denzel Simusialela and Makanakaishe Charamba have run qualifying standards for the global stage’s biggest competition for 2027 in the 200m. But sadly it’s outside the window and sprinters have a mammoth task ahead as they are expected to run the times from this August to 12 months later before the September 2027 Championships in Beijing.
The 4x400m relay team of Dennis Hove, Gerren Muwishi, Leeford Zuze and 300m national record holder Thandazani Ndhlovu qualified for Beijing when they finished fifth in the World Relays final in Botswana in April this year.
As for the relay team, they were confirmed in May as having qualified.
On their way to the final, the athletes ran a new national record of two minutes 59.01 seconds, breaking the 29-year-old mark of 3 minutes 00.79 seconds with a 3 minutes 00.69 seconds time that was later obliterated by the same quartet that went on to win the Senior African Championships gold medal in Accra, Ghana in May.
This year, World Athletics set the bar too high for those bidding to run at the World Championships. With the qualifying standards stiff, Charamba and Simusialela have done enough to guarantee themselves a slot among the 48 best athletes by running under 20.07 seconds which is the mark.
Charamba has the best time by a Zimbabwean of 19.88 seconds according to World Athletics records available on the net as of yesterday. He achieved that time in a competition run on June 6 in Texas.
Simusialela, Zimbabwe’s rising star in the sprints with two superb times run this year not considered because of illegal winds, had an official time of 19.98 seconds standing.
Methembe Tshuma with the third best 200m time, had his season cut short by an injury in the semi-finals of the African Senior Championships in Accra Ghana two months ago.
So with a few races now for Zimbabweans, before the season ends in September, their bid to qualify probably hangs on how they manage their bodies and schedules between now and the high expectations African Games set for Egypt in January 2027.
While World Athletics appears to have been less stringent in the 200m, the noose appears to have been tightened in the 400m, where the qualifying standard is now 44.45 seconds.
Zimbabwe’s young trio of Ndhlovu, Zuze and Hove, who all have run sub 45 seconds, are under pressure to get good preparations and competitions to run the expected 44.45 seconds.
Ndhlovu has the best 400m time of 44.71 among Zimbabwean athletes with Hove on 44.88 and Zuze 44.91.
The chasing pack has Alpha Mpofu (45.32 seconds, Carlton Siwela 45.53 and Takudzwa Pahuma 45.55.
To qualify for Beijing, athletes will have to be within these categories.
“As has been the case for recent global championships, the qualification system will be based on a combination of entry standards and world rankings. For the 2027 World Championships, the system has been set with the objective of having approximately 40% of the athletes qualifying through entry standards and 60% qualifying through world rankings.
The approach is designed to ensure that the World Championships continue to bring together the world’s leading athletes across all disciplines, while recognising both exceptional single performances and consistent high-level competition across the qualification period.
“The entry standards — and the target number of athletes in each discipline — have been set following detailed analysis of recent performance trends across the sport, including the increasing depth of results in many disciplines and the impact of advances in technology and preparation. The standards also reflect the expanded role of the world rankings as a qualification route, with most athletes expected to become eligible for selection through rankings rather than by achieving a single entry standard.
“The world rankings now place more weight on the results score and less on the placing score, to even the playing field for athletes with limited access to high-ranking competitions.
Under the approved system, athletes in individual events will be able to qualify in four ways: by achieving the entry standard during the qualification period; by virtue of finishing position at designated competitions; through a wild card or by world rankings position at the end of the respective ranking period,” says World Athletics.
Consistency by Chengetai Mapaya in the triple jump where he has been a top 30 athlete for some time with a season’s best of 16.85m and Theo Mudzengerere’s 16.83m could see them have a shout for Beijing as will long jumper Tafadzwa Chikomba ranked ninth as of yesterday with a leap of 8.37m, could see more than one jumper at the World Championships. Mpaya and Mudzengerere and ranked 23rd and 25th at the moment.
