US based triple jumper Sarah Nambawa leaped 13.90m to clinch gold at the just concluded 18th Africa Senior Athletics Championships in Porto Novo, Benin. That feat at the Charles de Gaulle stadium that saw her retain a crown she won in Nairobi two years ago was not enough to earn her a London Olympics ticket. Nambawa will now try her best shot at the RLG Grand Prix in Ghana tomorrow.
She will be aiming to jump over 14.10m (Olympic standard [B) to join the 15-man team that has already qualified for the summer games. But Nambawa has less to worry and more to concentrate on qualifying because she has leaped closer to the required distance before. She set a new national record of 14.07m, which is just 0.03m away from her target.
Nambawa and steeplechase athlete Benjamin Kiplagat won Uganda’s only medals that saw the country finish 11th on the table. With now just 23 days to go, the slot in London is just not yet assured.