Monaco DL: Nakaayi breaks 1000m national record, Nanyondo registers season’s best

Ugandan athlete and 800m World Champion Halimah Nakaayi continued to impress as she jointly smashed the national record of the women’s 1000m and set a personal best record at the Monaco Diamond League on Friday.

Nakaayi finished the race 5th in 2:32.12 behind Britain’s Reekie Jemma (4th), Ireland’s Mageean Ciara (3rd), Britain’s Laura Muir (2nd) and Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon (1st).

The previous 1000m national record, also Nakaayi’s personal best in the distance stood at 2:34.88 set by her on 2nd September 2018 at the Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF) in Berlin.

Fellow Ugandan Winnie Nanyondo crossed the finish line 8th with a season’s best performance of 2:36.54 in the same race.

Winner Kipyegon nearly broke the world record, having posted 2:29.15 – an African record and a Diamond League record – which is less than a second slower than the world record of 2:28.98 set by Svetlana Masterkova in 1996.