B Adrian Mwanza –
ZAMBIAN upcoming runner Niddy Mangilishi yesterday finished in a poor seventh position in the final of 400m flat at the ongoing world under-8 athletics championships in Kenya.
Mangilishi, who had carried the hopes of Zambia for being the only one to get to the final, crumbled under pressure in the final as her inexperience took a toll on her.
After posting impressive performances in the preliminary heat and semi-finals where she finished second in both races, the 17-year-old Zambian runner just seemed not at her best in this final.
She finished with a time of 55.33 seconds, her worst at the championship at which she also set herself a personal best time.
Czech Republic runner Barbora Malíková won the race with an amazing time of 52.74seconds, a new personal best for the new world champion while the the Bahamas runner Doneisha Anderson, who beat the Zambian in the semi-finals finished four with a new personal best of 53.39 seconds.
Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) Secretary Davison Mung’ambata remained happy with Mangilishi’s showing saying she had exceeded expectations.
“This is a great talent we have. This is her first international outing. We picked her straight from School and look at what she has done. We are happy because we know we have a great talent on our hands and we just have to nature her into a world champion,” he said.
Mangilishi was barely known going into these world championships and in her first international outing, has marked her name among the runners to watch and could as well join the promising batch of highly promising young runners in the country.
At the Kenya meet and in the preliminary, Mangilishi finished second to get an automatic qualification to the semis and set herself a new season and personal best time of 54.51seconds in the 400m flat.
In the semi-finals, she again finished second with a time of 54.58seconds to get a place in the final.
She was the one of the three Zambians that took part in the IAAF world under-18 championship with the other two being Suwilanji Mpondela and Kennedy Luchembe.
Whereas Mpondela reached the semi-finals of the 100m flat, Luchembe crushed out at the first hurdle where despite winning his heat in the preliminary, got disqualified for stepping a foot into an opponent’s lane.
Mpondela had a different fortune in the preliminary where despite finishing fifth, still made it to the semi-finals as among the best times posted by the non-automatic top three qualifiers from each heat.
Her experience in the semi-final was not the best of them as she finished last in the first semi-final race that saw her exit the championship.