Nakaayi eyes 800m Women’s semifinal
David GOMBE
Event: Women’s 800m, Heat 2
Ugandan: Halimah Nakaayi
Date: Friday, August 2
Time: 8:54pm
Halimah Nakaayi will be targeting a slot in the women’s 800m semifinal when she competes in round one at Stade de France on Friday.
The 2019 World champion comes to Paris after setting a new national and Personal best of 1:57.26 at the London Diamond League.
In her Heat, Nakaayi will battle with South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso, Brunei’s Nelly Jepkosgei, and Cuba’s Daily Gaspar among others.
The top three from each heat progress to the semifinal while the rest will have another chance through the repechage.
Meanwhile, swimmer Jesse Ssengonzi will be the first Ugandan in action on Friday. He will be competing in the Men’s 100m butterfly at 12noon.
After Ssengonzi, rower Kathleen Grace Noble will seek to end her rowing career on a high in the women’s single sculls final E.
Noble who became the first ever Ugandan to row at the Olympics three years ago will officially retire after today’s race.
She started the 2024 Paris Olympics with a fifth place finish in Heat 1 last Saturday followed by a third place finish in the Repechage before securing a place in the final E after finishing second in the E/F 2 semifinal with a time of 8:38.78.
Elsewhere, Joy Cheptoyek, Belinda Chemutai and Esther Chebet will be aiming to prevail to the 5000m final.
They will begin their Paris journey with the women’s 5000m round 1 at 7:10Pm.
Chebet a bronze medallist at the 2024 Africa Championships and Co will be eyeing a place in the final.
Meanwhile, Uganda’s trio of Joshua Cheptegei, Jacob Kiplimo and Martin Kiprotich will line up for the first track medal on Friday night (10:20Pm) over the 10000m race.