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Ellina Mhlanga 

Senior Sports Reporter 

FOLLOWING their recent qualification for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in South Africa Panashe Nhenga and David Nyamufarira have now shifted focus to preparations for the meet.

The two athletes competed at the Athletics South Africa Grand Prix 2 in Pretoria on Monday. 

Nhenga earned his ticket to the junior championships in both 100m and 200m while Nyamufarira qualified for 200m.

Nyamufarira first made the cut for 100m last month, when he competed in South Africa. The World Under-20 Championships are due to take place in Lima, Peru from August 27 to 31. 

The qualifying time for men in 100m is 10.55 seconds and 21.35 seconds for 200m. 

Nhenga qualified for 100m with a time of 10.52 seconds, setting a new personal best. 

He also qualified for 200m when running a season best of 21.34 seconds. 

His previous personal best for 100m was 10.57 seconds. 

“Personally l was happy but not surprised. I had been putting in the work and l got to the competition confident and ready to deliver. But it was something extraordinary qualifying within 1 hour in both the 100m and 200m

“The competition was stiff since l was going head to head with seniors,” said Nhenga.

The 19-year-old will be making his second appearance at the championships, after representing the country at the 2022 meet in Colombia. 

“Going to the World Championships for the second time is honestly grace and being part of the one percent that get this lucky l need to make use of it.

“This time around l am just patient with my training, and I am training smart so that l peak at the right time. 

“At the moment l feel like l still have a lot in the bag and can run faster than l did a few days ago. The experience is there, no more world stage fear, so this time l am confident that l will make it past the heats and probably make it to the semi-finals if not the finals.

“As of now the SSL performance hub coach is keen to help me through my preparation period till August polishing up a lot of mistakes l have been making. 

“I am also hoping to get involved in a lot of competitions. I am also training with top guys like (Ngoni) Makusha and Dickson (Kamungeremu) so that will really help me in my preparation process,” said Nhenga. 

Nyamufarira qualified for 200m with a time of 21.25 seconds. He will be competing at the World Under-20 Championships for the first time. 

“I am feeling proud of myself because all of the hard work has paid off and l am not yet satisfied. The level of competition was highly competitive because l was racing with the Seniors and there are more experienced but it was exciting because it pushed me to beat them and I managed to qualify both 100m 200m 

“Now that I’ve qualified, I am going to focus on getting as prepared as possible for the big competition in August. I will be working on my technique and fitness, and I’ll be competing in meets to get as much experience as I can.

“I am really excited to see how I will do against the best competitors from around the whole world,” said Nyamufarira. 

So far Nhenga and Nyamufarira are the only two athletes that have qualified for the competition.