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Ellina Mhlanga in Paris, France

IT was a great night for Zimbabwe’s sprinters Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba as they rose to the occasion in the men’s 200m semi-final to advance to the final at the Stade de France last night. 

The first two in each of the three semi-final heats and the next two fastest two times across the heats progressed to the final scheduled for tonight. 

Charamba and Makarawu secured their places when coming third in their respective heats with the next fastest two times.

Just like in the first-round heats, the first on the track was Charamba in semi-final Heat Two, and running in lane four gave a good account of himself to finish third in 20.31 seconds. 

“The aim of coming here was just to enjoy myself like I said (before) I am not setting expectations for myself, I am just going to try to go there and have fun. 

“So, I went out there, had fun, and ended up making the final Tapiwa and me. 

“We can now call ourselves the history makers because at the end of the day, people never expected two Zimbabweans to be in the final.” 

“It’s a great feeling because the last time Zimbabwe, if I am not mistaken, had a person who was an Olympic finalist in athletics it was Brian Dzingai who is my mentor also.

“So, I listen to him. So, by listening to him I managed to make the Olympic final and it’s just a great feeling for me, him, and Tapiwa. 

On Dzingai’s role, Charamba said; “I will probably say it was very pivotal because it was him (Dzingai) and coach Ken (Harnden), he is my coach right now in Auburn. He is a Zimbabwean. They all played a big role and brought me into the system. I trusted the system and I am now an Olympic finalist,” said Charamba. 

The heat was won by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in 19.96 seconds. 

United States favourite Noah Lyles came second in 20.08s. 

Makarawu had another good performance with a good start off the blocks and negotiating his way on the curve to remain among the leading pack and he finished third in 20.16s. 

USA’s Erriyon Knighton won the race in 20.09s and Joseph Fahnbulleh was second in 20.12s. 

Going toe-to-toe with favourites Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia and Erriyon Knighton of the US, Makarawu was pleased with the outcome. 

“It was impressive for sure, I started feeling tired after 150m. But I think it was okay . . . I am still impressed that I made it to the finals. It has been my target since last year. So, I am glad today I made that dream come true. 

“Whatever is going to happen in the final I don’t mind because I have attained the goals that I set for myself for this year. So, I am happy for myself and I thank God for that,” said Makarawu. 

He was also impressed at having made the final together with Charamba. 

“It is such an honour and we thank God for that because it’s history that we made, me and Makanaka and we thank God for that because without God we couldn’t have made the finals but with Him everything is possible and we have made history. 

“And we are going to do our best tomorrow? We will see how it goes,” said Makarawu. 

The two sprinters are following in the footsteps of Dzingai, who reached the final at the 2008 Olympics.