The 14th World Junior Athletics Championships got underway at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain this morning. Owing to the financial constraints, Uganda was lucky to have sent head coach George Palanda and five athletes, a six-man contingent that arrived in Spain yesterday. Halima Nakaayi and Winnie Nanyondo were the first of the five to step on track this morning. They both managed to secure slots for semifinals of the women’s 800m due tomorrow afternoon.
Nanyondo, on her first international event, recorded a new personal best time of 2:03.00 finishing second, behind Great Britain’s Jessica Judd in the first heat. Nakaayi, last year’s Commonwealth Youth Games gold medalist crossed the finish line first on 2:06.38 ahead of Canadian Julia Zrindi and South African Monique Stander in heat two.