By Ellina Mhlanga
RUSAPE-BASED athlete Vimbai Maisvoreva became the first local athlete to make the cut for the IAAF World Under-18 Championships when she ran 2 minutes 13,46 seconds in the 800m at a qualifying meet in Lusaka, Zambia, on Saturday.
The qualifying time is 2 minutes 13,.50 seconds and the championships will be staged in Nairobi, Kenya, from July 12 to 16.
Zimbabwe had 17 athletes — three youths, 12 juniors and two seniors.
Maisvoreva beat the qualifying time in the 800m for the world competition formerly known as the IAAF World Youth Championships.
The trio of Dickson Kapandura (100m), Kundai Maguranyanga (200m) and Kelvin Chiku (800m) made the grade in their respective events for the Africa Junior Championships scheduled for Algeria next month.
National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe director of youth Briad Nhubu confirmed the development.
“They (Zambia) had a qualifying meet, so they had invited other countries that also wanted to make their athletes qualify. So we went with a group of youths and juniors hoping to qualify and among them was Vimbai, who managed to qualify for the World Youth Championships.
“She becomes the first athlete to qualify. At least I am happy she managed to qualify again for the second time because in 2015 she qualified, but could not go because of age, she was Under-16 by then. So this time it’s a dream come true.
“We had juniors who qualified for Algeria, the Africa Junior Championships. So in total we had four athletes that qualified for the different world and African competitions,” said Nhubu.
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