admin
Zimpapers Sports Hub
AS he shifts focus to resuming his training for another race, marathon runner Tendai Zimuto believes he stands a chance to meet the qualifying standard for next year’s World Athletics Championships.
The championships will be held in Tokyo, Japan in September.
Zimuto competed at the Enschede Marathon and Amsterdam Marathon this year and they remain his two major races for the year.
He recently won the half marathon at the First Mutual event held in Harare.
However, Zimuto noted that he will be resuming the training programme specifically for his next marathon expected to take place in February, where he will have another chance to try and qualify for the world meet.
“I think we are in the right direction. What happened is that towards the Amsterdam race, I picked an injury so it affected the training a bit. But I think if I had not been injured, I would have done better.
“December I am going to start preparing for another race that I will take part in, in February,” said Zimuto.
Zimuto remains one of the hopefuls from the marathon event, together with Olympian Isaac Mpofu in the men’s category.
“There are some things we learnt during the first marathon and the second marathon as well. So, I think on our third marathon we are going to do our best.
“I can’t promise much but I can just say we are going to do our best and try and qualify to make the nation happy. NAAZ president, Mr (Tendayi) Tagara is supporting us with everything, air tickets and a lot of other things.”
The National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe have also indicated South Africa-based Rutendo Nyahora and Fortunate Chidzivo remain part of their plan for next year as well. Nyahora has already begun working towards pushing for qualification as she returned to competition in September after the Paris Olympic Games held in August. Other athletes also hoping to try and qualify include Moses Tarakinyu, who has also had a good season this year, although he is just transitioning from mainly half marathon and 10km races. He took part in the Cape Town Marathon last month where he placed ninth.
“We have gone back to work on speed after the marathon. So, we are now building up to speed.
“For my next marathon, I am now starting to try and run the qualifying time because Cape Town I was just assessing to see where I am. So, now I think I can go and try to run time because I now know that I can run and finish a marathon,” said Tarakinyu.
The qualifying window for the marathon closes on May 4, 2025.
Online Reporter