Trio fails to qualify for 2017 IAAF World Championships

Rwanda’s hopes to qualify for the 2017 IAAF World Championships ended pretty unceremonious after none of the three athletes who competed at this year’s International Meeting of Djibouti managed to attain the minima entry points. The one-day track and field competition was held on Saturday at the Hassan Gouled Stadium in Djibouti City with Rwanda fielding three athletes, two women; Beatha Nishimwe and Honorine Iribagiza, and one man; Emmanuel Ntakiyimana, who all competed in the 800 metres. The competition is an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) meeting and it attracted hundreds of athletes from across the world as it doubled as a qualifying event for the 2017 IAAF World Championships to be held in London, Britain from August 4-13. Nineteen-year old Nishimwe finished in fifth after covering the distance in two minutes and 11 seconds, while Iribagiza, 18, came in eighth place using two minutes and 18 seconds. Meanwhile, in the men category, Ntakiyimana finished seventh posting one minute and 56 seconds. According to IAAF, the minima to qualify for the IAAF World Championships in 800 meters in the women’s category, is two minutes and one second, while for the men, it is one minute, 45 seconds and 90 micro seconds. National team coach Anicet Kanyabugoyi, who travelled with the team to Djibouti, said his athletes were affected by weather. “We suffered from very hot temperatures and strong winds, and having arrived here just one day before the competition, we had little time to acclimatise,” said Kanyabugoyi. The team was expected to return home on Sunday evening. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Trio fails to qualify for 2017 IAAF World Championships