Sophie Kanakuze has set a new national record during the national athletics championship dubbed ‘Rendezvous Nationale’ held at Amahoro stadium recently. 

Featuring for the Ministry of Education team, Kanakuze set a new record of 26:37 beating her previous record of 26:61 on the way to winning the 200m final event. She also won the 100m in 12:78.

The national championship held at the end of the year was aimed at selecting athletes who will participate in next year’s Beijing Games qualifiers.

The national athletics body will soon name the competent athletes who qualified to take part in next year’s African and European championships in a bid to attain the required minimum standards for the Beijing Games.

The competition, the first of its kind to be organized attracted teams from all corners of the country including clubs, public and private institutions, the army, the national police as well as schools and institutions of higher learning.

The two-day event’s participants competed in both track and field events ranging from 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 10.000m, 4x100, 4x400 relays and field events.

Islam Mulinda dominated the boys’ 100m and 200m while Slyvain Rukundo was in his own class as he dominated both the 5000m and 10000m.

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