By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
ZAMBIA’s star runner, Gerald Phiri yesterday missed out on a bronze medal at the World Indoor Athletics Championship by a millisecond after finishing fifth with a time of 6.52 seconds in the final of the 60 metres dash in Sopot, Poland.
Phiri actually finished the same time with the bronze medal winner, Femi Ogunode of Qatar together with one other runner from China, Su Bingtian but lost out when it came to photo finish timing.
Whereas Phiri will be left angry at missing out on a medal from the event described as the tightest final in athletics history, the Zambian sprinter will be comforted by the fact that he beat his personal best record and also broke the national indoor record.
Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) president, Elias Mpondela expressed excitement with Phiri’s performance and said this was Zambia’s best performance in more than 10 years.
The last person to perform so well at the world championships was former world record holder, Samuel Matete.
After finishing first in the Heat One of the competition with a time of 6.59 seconds to reach the semi-finals, Phiri came out second in the third heat but with a better time of 6.57 which turned out to be a new national indoor record from the previous 6.58 seconds.
