IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE – MONACO
LIVE ON SS6, 9:00PM
Irrespective of the levels of passion for Ugandan athletics, you’ve got to love Winnie Nanyondo. She is currently in her best form ever over the 800m, something that many pundits and her coach Raphael Kasaija easily coincide to.
But with less than a fortnight to the Commonwealth Games in Scottish city of Glasgow, Nanyondo believe she still has room for improvement despite breaking a two-minute barrier in Hengelo and later setting a new personal best (PB) of 1:59.47 in Czech city Ostrava within a space of nine days last month.
The diminutive runner will aim to make faster but steady strides when she lines up the two-lap race at the tenth IAAF Diamond League Meet at the Stade Louis II in French city of Monaco on Friday evening.
“Truthfully, I am in brilliant shape but there is still some room for improvement for me before Glasgow,” Nanyondo said before she left for Europe early this week.
“I watched my run in Ostrava on video together with my coach and realised that I needed to improve on my final 150m,” she said. “In contrast with the Hengelo (1:59.39) race, I was faster in the last segment which means I can concentrate further and be able to lower my PB.”
That could be enough to put to reason as to why Nanyondo did a surprise one-lap race and won 400m in 53.72 at the National Track & Field Championships last Saturday.
On Friday night, she faces much tougher opposition of 10 runners and will only be satisfied should she cross the finish line ahead of either World champion Kenyan Eunice Sum (1:58.48), US champion Wilson Ajee (1:58.55), Russian Yekaterina Poistogova (1:58.70) and American Laura Roesler (1:59.05).
It is only this quartet that has run faster than Nanyondo this year.
WINNIE NANYONDO
Date of birth: August 23, 1993
Major races: 800m, 1500m
Personal best: 1:59.27 (800m), 4:22.62 (1500m)
Honours: 2014 World University Cross-Country (Gold), 2014 National 400m champion