Outstanding results for para-athletes in Grand Prix Berlin

Outstanding results for para-athletes in Grand Prix Berlin

Our Namibian para-athletes achieved outstanding results in the IPC Para-athletics Grand Prix of Berlin last weekend. Tomorrow they will bring 9 medals to Namibia: 2 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze.

Beside those medals a few of our upcoming athletes also set their new personal bests. From now on we continue to build the new team towards the Paralympic Games of Tokyo2020. New athletes were classified and tested in their first international event.

OUR TEAM

Our three elite-athletes Johannes Nambala and Ananias Shikongo with guide Even Tjiviju made us proud by winning gold. They are an example for the youngsters. The competition was good preparation for the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Namibia. We put now our team together for the All African Games and World Championships.

Building strong partnerships towards Tokyo2020

The results show us that there is a lot of talent in Namibia. But there is also still a lot of work to be done for this team to improve the 5 medals won in the Paralympic Games of Rio2016. The Namibian NPC is very positive about the results. The team performed very well. We were promoting the country at the highest level.

 

The Namibian NPC would like to thank main sponsor NamPower for their support. They always have been there for our para-athletes. We also feel grateful for the assistance from our Namibian Embassy in Berlin. The athletes felt at home in Berlin. Our ambassador in Berlin, Andreas Guigeb, honoured our athletes by handing over the medals at the reception. It was very encouraging to see Namibians from Berlin cheering and supporting our para-athletes during the competition.

 

The Sport on the Move Foundation introduced the Namibian NPC to new partners in The Netherlands. Thanks to the trainings stage in the Dutch city Enschede the week before the Grand Prix, our elite athletes obtained more focus and got used to the track. This contributed to the gold medals won by Shikongo and Nambala. We showed that our para-athletes never disappoint the Namibian people. We do hope the country will continue supporting our heroes.

Results

Saturday 30 June

On the first day of competition Johannes Nambala won gold and silver in T13. The 100m was worth silver with a time of 11,12 seconds. Nambala also ran the 400m in 49,73 seconds and that was good for gold! Ananias Shikongo missed out medals with just 0,02 seconds in the 100m T11 event. After that race Shikongo won silver in the 400m (51,96 seconds).

 

We were also proud of our youngsters that day: they all broke their personal bests! Bradley Murere took even bronze in the 100m (11,98 seconds). Marungu Christoph finished 6th (55,33 seconds) and Chris Kinda took place 11 (1.03,04) in the 400m T12 event. Marungu also ran 100m in 12,83 and that was another 6th place. Petrus Karuli ran 800m in 2:09,32. Our only field-athlete Dian Jansen participated in the field events Javelin (33,49m – 4th place) and discus (33,40m – 4th place).

Watch Saturday's photos

Sunday 1 July

On the second day we had a lot of athletes running in the 200m event. Ananias Shikongo and guide Even Tjiviju (24,20 seconds) won gold in the 200m T11 event where Alfred Bernardo and his guide David Ndeilenga took silver (25,70 seconds). Johannes Nambala won silver in his category T13 (22,41 seconds). Bradley Murere took is second medal: silver (24,28 sec) in the combined T45-47 200m event (1st in his category). In the heat he set a new personal best with a time of 24,11 seconds.

 

Also Dian Jansen made Namibia proud: he won his first medal on an international competition. He throw 9,51 meters in shortput: a new personal best and good for a bronze medal! Karuli Petrus ran a time of 4:42,87 min in the combined open category 1500m event and finished 6th (2nd in his category). He is the only middle distance athlete in the team at the moment. Karuli ran a new personal best this day!

Watch Sunday's photos

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