FRIEDA Iithete and Andre Retief produced the highlights of the Khomas Regional Athletics Championships on Saturday with two outstanding performances.
Iithete won the women's triple jump with a new national record distance of 11,87 metres, which broke the previous record of 11,77m which was established 21 years ago by Jolene O' Connor.
Iithete also shone in the long jump, winning gold with a distance of 5,49m, which is not that far off Ronel Moolman's national record of 6,05m.
Retief, meanwhile, produced a storming finish to win the men's 400m in a great time of 46,91 seconds, followed by Warren Goreseb (47,08) and Mahmad Bock (47,10).
Retief's winning time was more than a second faster than his previous personal best of 48,10, while he is now also closing in on Daniel Haitembu's long-standing national record of 46,14 that was established 42 years ago.
With Retief only turning 20 in August, that mark is now definitely within his grasp and after the race he said he hopes to break the record this season.
"I was aiming to break my personal best, but I was not expecting a time like that and I was definitely not expecting to come first, so it was really something special for me and I'm really happy," he said.
"I am aiming to break the national record, I'm aiming to get a 46-flat or go even below that and I'd like to do it at the national championships," he added.
Retief also won the 400m hurdles in 55,62, followed by Vanomukona Kaputuaza in 1:03,07.
There were several other fine performances at the Khomas Championships, with Gilbert Hainuca winning the men's 100m in 10,37 seconds, followed by Even Tjiviju (10,62) and Anthony Vries (10,63), while Ernst Narib won the 200m in 21,14 followed by Mahmad Bock (21,36) and Tjiviju (21,41).
Namibia's Paralympian gold and silver medallist Ananias Shikongo won the T11 Men's 100m and 400m races, but he had to pull out all the stops to beat Chris Kinda in both events.
He won the 100m in 11,32 seconds with Kinda second in 11,72, while he won the 400m in 52,22, with Kinda just behind in 52,38.
Daniel Nghipandulwa won the men's 800m in 1:55,51, followed by Thomas Shigwedha (1:55,80) and the wheelchair athlete Roodly Gowaseb (1:57,83), while the latter excelled to win both the 1 500m and 5 000m events.
He won the 1 500m in 3:55,95, followed by Wilhem Hangula (3:56,77) and Shigwedha (3:57,43), and the 5 000m in 13:48,01, followed by Paulus Daniel (14:31,34) and Rainhold Thomas (15:08,78).
There were also good performances in the men's high jump with Wenceslaus Klaasman winning gold in 2,10m, followed by Karsten Diergaardt (2,00) and Muhenje Tuepee (1,90m); while Sandro Diergaardt won the long jump in 7,35m.
Coenraad Kune won the shot put in 14,95m as well as the discus in 40,00m, while Jasper Engelbrecht won the javelin throw in 60,21m.
Johanna Ludgerus won the women's 100m in 12,21 seconds, followed by Hanganeni Fikunawa (12,35) and Jade Nangula (12,69), while Nandi Vass did the double in the 200m and 400m.
She won the 200m in 25,18, followed by Nangula (26,05) and Cornelia Goreses (26,46), while she won the 400m in 57,92, followed by Ludgerus (58,43) and Kaekua Hengua (59,99).
Namibian Olympian Helalia Johannes won the 5 000m in 15:53,44, finishing nearly five minutes ahead of Indileni Mweshanekange (20:40,06), while
Salmi Nduviteko won the 800m in 2:16,16 and Pamela Vurayai the 1 500m in 5:49,10.
Alessandra Kaura won the women's 100m hurdles in 15,86; while Cira de Wet won the 400m hurdles in 1:11,14; and the Unam A team won the women's relay in 48,78 seconds.
Tuane Silver, who is still only 17 years old, did the double in the women's shot put and discus throw events. She won the shot put with a throw of 14,19m, which was well off her recently-established national record of 15,24m, but her discus winning mark of 44,32m in the discus was not too far off the national record of 46,42.
Samira Diergaardt won the women's javelin throw with a distance of 29,05m, while Chantelle van den Bergh won the high jump with a height of 1,55m.
Artmotion S.Africa
