Xiamen speed tests for Nakaayi, Nanyondo

There was heavy personal reflection for the middle-distance pairing of Winnie Nanyondo and Halimah Nakaayi after the Paris Olympics in France.

They both did not meet the criteria to advance to any of their desired 1500-metre or 800-metre races in the French capital last summer.

In truth, neither gripped the ascendency curve after Nakaayi and Nanyondo took first and fourth respective positions in the women’s 800-metre final during the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

“Somethings were out of our control but I think, in part, we did not handle that success well,” Nanyondo admitted in an emotional chat after competing at the Stade de France.

Regardless, the two ladies are very resilient. Such is the mark that has held them at the international stage of elite track running for more than a decade. “I can’t give up,” said Nanyondo.

After Paris though, they have all decided to embrace the long-distance format of the sport. When the Wanda Diamond League season opens up in Xiamen, China on Saturday, Nanyondo will run her second successive 5000-metre race.

This is after she won the 12-and-a-half-lap race during the Third National Trials at Namboole on March 29 in a time of 16 minutes and 37.03 seconds.

She had previously not run the distance competitively since 2022 and yet, her personal best (PB) is at 15:57.16 from 2020 in Valencia, Spain.

Nanyondo, who has since returned to training at the new-look Namboole Stadium, is keeping tabs on the qualifying standard of 14:50.00 to the Tokyo World Athletics Championships in Japan due mid-September.

The 31-year-old is in a 21-lady field comprising 13 Ethiopians including 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Gudaf Tsegay but attention will be on double Olympic champion Kenyan Beatrice Chebet, whose PB mark is 14:05.92.

Chebet closed 2024 with a 5km world record (WR) mark of 13:54 in Barcelona, Spain. Like Nanyondo, Nakaayi will as well go over her familiar distance when she lines-up in the women’s 1000-metre race at the Xiamen Egret Stadium.

Therein, Nakaayi will race and aid her training partner and friend Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, who boasts of a sub-plot of running a WR over the distance.

The three-time 1500-metre Olympic champion Kipyegon is the second fastest over the distance with 2:29.15 and intends to beat Svetlana Masterkova’s mark of 2:28.98 set on August 23, 1996.

“Faith needs to cross 800 metres in 1:59:20,” said Nakaayi. “In case I feel strong after pacing up to 800 metres, then I will continue,” added Nakaayi who is ranked 10th over the distance at 2:32.12.

The field has familiar 800-metre runners including Olympic silver medallist Ethiopian Tsige Duguma, Benin’s Noélie Yarigo and veteran Jamaican Natoya Goule-Toppin.

XIAMEN DIAMOND LEAGUE

UGANDANS IN ACTION - SATURDAY

2.15pm: Winnie Nanyondo (Women’s 5000m)

3.01pm: Halimah Nakaayi (Women’s 1000m)

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS FOR NANYONDO & NAKAAYI

NANYONDO

3rd Place (800 Metres) at 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games

4th (800 Metres) at 2019 Doha Worlds

4th (1500 Metres) at 2022 Belgrade World Indoors

Holds 1500 Metres National Record (3:59.56)

Holds Mile National Record (4:18.65)

Holds 1000 Metres Indoor National Record (2:37.80)

Holds Mile Indoor National Record (4:29.40)

Held 800 Metres National Record (1:58.63) for four years

NAKAAYI

1st Place (800 Metres) at 2019 Doha Worlds

2nd Place (800 Metres) at 2024 African Games

3rd Place (800 Metres) at 2019 African Games

3rd (800 Metres) at 2022 Belgrade World Indoors

Holds 800 Metres National Record (1:57.26)

Holds 1000 Metres National Record (2:32.12)

Holds 800 Metres Indoor National Record (1:58.58)

Holds 1500 Metres Indoor National Record (4:02.78)