Nanyondo breaks national record

Beyond first place, everything else counts for nothing.
But Winnie Nanyondo will be much elated with her third-place finish after the women’s 800m race during the IAAF Diamond League (DL) Meet in French city of Monaco on Friday night.

The Ugandan runner took on a strong field of 10 runners but showed her mojo as she clocked a third successive new personal best time enroute to setting a new national record of 1.58.63 at the Stade Louis II.

The feat, which erased Annet Negesa’s previous record of 1:59.08 set in Dutch city Hengelo two years ago, means Nanyondo scored her first season DL point and she will head to Glasgow for Commonwealth Games with huge verve and perfect mental shape.

Her previous PB was 1.59.27 which she set last month while taking her maiden International victory at the IAAF World Meet in Czech Republic.
And knowing how good she had run the two-lap race, Nanyondo celebrated her record by dancing in the mixed zone as she walked off the track.
Clad in a green and black bib, the reigning 400m national champion did not start off well in lane four but completed her first lap in third place inside 58 seconds.

Within the last 350m, the 20-year-old slipped to fifth but charged back to third as they approached the final 200m.

And as her vividly weary legs tried to hold off 2008 Olympic silver medalist Janeth Jepkosgei (1:58.70) in the final home stretch, American champion Wilson Ajee pulled away from reigning World champion Eunice Sum to win a new world lead time of 1:57.67.

Sum finished second in a season’s best 1:57.92 – her third straight season’s best on the year.