Three Rwandan teenage athletes have booked tickets to the IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships set for July 19 - 24 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Salome Nyirarukundo. Salome Nyirarukundo, Beatha Nishimwe and Jean Marie Vianney Myasiro were selected on Sunday during the national junior championship trials conducted by Rwanda Athletics Federation (RAF) at Amahoro national Stadium. The biennial international event attracts athletes aged between 16 and 19 years. The only boy, Myasiro, 19 qualified for the 10,000m race in the men’s category after clocking 30 minutes, 55 seconds and 84 microseconds. Nyirarukundo also aged 19 years and the winner of Musanze provincial race, a 15km pre event race for Kigali International Peace Marathon qualified for the women’s 5000m after posting 15:57.80 with the entry standard set at 16:40.00. Fresh from competing in last month’s Kenya Cross Country Championship, 18-year-old Nishimwe clocked 4:21.38 in the women’s 1500m to book her ticket to the main event in Europe. Speaking to the media after the trials, RAF Secretary General Johnson Rukundo said that, “We still have until end of June to qualify more athletes and we believe we shall get more when we participate in the Regional Junior Athletics Championships next month in Dar-es Salaam, Tanzania from April 28-30”. He noted that the competition will be another chance for athletes to qualify for the World Championships and a good test for those who have already qualified. This will be the first time for Rwandan athletes to compete in the World Championships after going through trials as they have been participating through invitation. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
