Haitengi smashes Namibian record in Windhoek

Rodger Haitengi was the star performer at the Bank Windhoek National Athletics Championships on Saturday as he leapt to a new Namibian triple jump record of 16.74m.

According to Namibia Sport, he shattered his previous record of 16.38m which he recently established in South Africa, while he also qualified for the African Senior Championships as well as the Commonwealth Games in India.

Haitengi narrowly overstepped on his first two jumps but on his third he soared through the air to set a new national record.

Haitengi's mark was the only new national record at the championships, but several other good results were established.

Daniel Nghipandulwa who represented Namibia at the Yellow Pages series in South Africa, won the 800m in 1:50.27, which was just outside his personal best time of 1:49.25, while he also won the 1,500m in 4:03.18.

Diamond double

Another Namibian representative at the Yellow Pages series, Hitjiverue Kaanjuka won the 200m in 21.00 seconds, just outside his personal best of 20.80 seconds.

Hans von Lieres won the men's high jump with a height of 2.04m, which was 11cm off his personal best height, while Erich Goeieman won the 5,000m in 15:02.15, beating Johannes Naitembu (15:09.65) in a sprint to the line.

Merilyn Diamond achieved the double in the women's sprints, winning the 100m in 12.05 seconds and the 200m in 24.69 seconds.

Beata Naigambo set a good time to win the 5,000m in 17:25.49, finishing more than a minute ahead of Lavinia Haitope, while Michelle Pretorius won the high jump with a height of 1.70m.

The 15-year-old Sune Wittmann won the javelin throw with a distance of 41.09m.

Fredericks Invitational

Namibia's top junior athletes competed at the Coca Cola Frank Fredericks Invitational Meet on Friday where the crowd was entertained to some exciting performances.

Merilyn Diamond once again did the female sprint double, winning the 100m in 11.70 seconds and the 200m in 24.13.

Kristofina Ruben of Ohangwena region also did the double, winning the 1,000m in 2:56:40 and the 3,000m in 10:09:38, while Cari Engels of Khomas did the double in the hurdles, winning the 100m hurdles in 15.38 seconds and the 400m hurdles in 67.71 seconds.

Cornelia Kahl of the Otjozondjupa region won the Long jump in 5.25m and the Triple jump in 10.52m, while Charlene Engelbrecht of Otjozondjupa won the Shotput in 12.36m and the Discus in 37.04m.

The boys' sprints saw an exciting duel between Jesse Urikhob of Otjozondjupa and FC Pieterse of Khomas, with Urikhob winning the 100m in 10.60 seconds followed by Pieterse in 10.80, while Urikhob won the 200m in 21.30, followed by Pieterse in 21.70.

Pieterse however won gold in the boys 110m hurdles in a time of 14.49 seconds.