[Image Credit: https://www.chronicle.co.zw]  All eyes will be on Isaac Mpofu as the only Zimbabwean athlete remaining in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Will he bring home the only medal that Zimbabwe has yet to claim at the Paris Games? The 35-year-old Mpofu, a police officer by profession, holds a personal record of 2:07 and hopes to break the Olympic record of 2:06:32, held by Wanjiru Samuel Kamau. Mpofu will compete against elite runners such as Kelvin Kiptum, who holds the world record at 2:00:35, Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya, with a time of 2:01:09, and Kenenisa Bekele, who has a personal best of 2:01:41. According to newzimbabwe.com , Mpofu has been training for this race since 2022. He has also been training in Harare, which is at high altitude. Mpofu believes that the low-altitude conditions in Paris will work to his advantage. As noted by marathonhandbook.com , training at altitude has long been a practice among elite runners and Olympic athletes in endurance sports to help ...

[Image Credit: X/ZOC]   Makanakaishe Charamba and Tapiwanashe Makarawu, two talented athletes from Zimbabwe, have qualified for the men's 200m final, with their sights set on the coveted gold medal. This remarkable achievement will bring immense pride to the landlocked Southern African country, and they will be determined to make their mark on the international stage. Makanakaishe clocked an impressive 20.31 in the semi-finals, while Tapiwanashe recorded 20.16. To emerge victorious, they must surpass the remarkable performances of Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who was the only athlete to break the 20-second mark in the semi-finals with a blistering 19.96. They will also need to outpace the current "fastest man" in the world, Noah Lyles of the USA, who clocked 20.08 just behind Letsile. Tapiwanashe, a 23-year-old student who holds the Zimbabwe national record, will need to be in top form to achieve this feat. He has previously demonstrated his ability to go bel...

Will Zambia's Commonwealth Games champion Muzala Samukonga win his first Olympic gold medal in the men's 400m final? It appears that the 21 year old Zambian is one of the contenders for gold after clocking 43.81 seconds in the semi-finals, just behind three-time Olympic medalist Kirani James of Grenada, who recorded a time of 43.78 seconds in the same race on Tuesday evening at the Stade de France during the Paris 2024 Olympics . Samukonga will also need to contend with Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain, who clocked 44.07 seconds in another semi-final heat. Additional challenges to his gold medal hopes could come from U.S. sprinter Christopher Bailey, as well as his compatriots Michael Norman and Quincy Hall, who are all competing in the finals today. Others in the final include Samuel Ogazi of Nigeria and Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago. The men's 400m final is set for Wednesday (7 August) at 21:20 CAT  ( CEST, GMT +2 ).

This morning, as I was jogging a fellow runner surged past me at a pace faster than mine. The temptation to push myself harder and outrun him was strong; after all, who doesn’t want to be the quickest out there? Yet, as I observed his swift stride, I realized that I had no context for his sprint no knowledge of his journey, where he had come from, or how long he intended to run. To my surprise, just a minute later, he stopped and slowed down, revealing that perhaps his speed had its own story,  that didn’t require competition with those around him. This prompted me to think about the deeper lessons that permeate our lives, both on and off the track. Running has taught me a valuable lesson: I must pursue my goals in my own way and at my own pace. I’ve realized that trying to imitate or compete with others especially those I don’t know, and whose journeys I don’t understand only leads to frustration, fatigue, and even the risk of failure to achieve. Every runner on the roa...