Marathon runners dominate team to Moscow

WINDHOEK-SPORT REPORTER On Wednesday, Athletics Namibia announced the team that will represent Namibia at the IAAF World Championships. The 14th edition of the championships will be held in Moscow, Russia from August 10-18. The announcement was made in line with the 10-day countdown to one of the most important events on the athletics calendar. A team of five female athletes and one male athlete, accompanied by a team leader and coach, will carry the nation's hopes on their shoulders, as they make their final preparations to compete against the crème de la crème of world athletics. Most of the athletes will be taking part in the women's marathon, with four runners getting a chance to represent the country in the 42km event. Helalia Johannes, who managed to finish 12th in the 2012 London Olympic Games marathon, and Beata Naigambo, who finished 38th at the Olympics last year, both qualified for participation, while Alina Armas and Nangula Leena Ekandjo will make their debut at the world championship. Armas and Ekandjo qualified for their first marathon competition after meeting the qualification standards at the Mangyongdae Marathon and the Steinmetz Gaborone Marathon respectively. Also in the team is the ever-improving Tjipekapora Herunga, who qualified to compete in the women's 400m sprint event. Herunga managed to reach the semi-finals at last year's London Olympics and it is hoped that she may go one step further and run in the finals of the world championships. Hitjivirue Kaanjuka completes the team as the best overall male athlete and will compete in the men's 200m sprint. Stay-C Namases will act as the team leader, while Tobias Hiskia will be the team coach. Herunga represented Namibia along, with Daniel Nghipandulwa (800m), at the 13th Edition of the IAAF World Championships in 2011 in Daegu.