Sprinter Leni breaks 12-year 200m national record
Sprinter Shida Leni stretched her streak of setting new national records after breaking the long-standing 200m National Record at the National Athletics Championships Saturday at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole. FILE PHOTO
Sprinter Shida Leni stretched her streak of setting new national records after breaking the long-standing 200m National Record at the National Athletics Championships Saturday at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole.
Leni finished the 200m in a scintillating 23.43 sec to break Justine Bayigga’s National Record of 23.46 sec, which had stood for 12 years since May 2007 in Khartoum.
In a lovely spectacle of sportsmanship, Bayiga, now official with Uganda Athletics Federation, hugged Leni, when the new record was announced.
Leni, who bagged silver at the recent World University Games in Naples, Italy, also bettered her 400m National Record with 51.47 sec. Her coaches Kevin and Sue O’Connor congratulated her on these milestones but acknowledged she still faces a mountain to hit the 51.35 sec mark to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Leni already qualified for the Doha World Championships in September and the All-Africa Games in Rabat, Morocco in August.
