Nowe shifts focus to European Meets

Calistus Kolantsho | Wednesday June 4, 2025 11:16

After the competitions, Nowe will return to come and prepare for the 2025 World Athletics Championships scheduled for Tokyo in September. Nowe is in the best form of her career after starting this season on a good footing, setting the women’s 800m national record of 1:58.96 in April 12, 2025. She went on to improve her own record and national record to 1:58.47 during the Absa Kip-Keino Classic Continental Tour-Gold Meet, that was held at the Ulinzi Sports Complex, where she finished the race in the second spot. That makes it four national records in four consecutive 800m races this year, an indication that Nowe has found something special in her legs. The second finish was also a sign of dominance over a Kenyan who is also World Under 20 800m champion, Sarah Moraa, who finished in third position.

Nowe beat Moraa for the first time this year during the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix in April. Nowe, who is part of the Sepeng Athletics Project in Pretoria, told SportMonitor that her weekend race was difficult because she had to learn to attack from the back, which was not easy. “I had to fight to create space, run from the outside. That takes time and energy but that is 800m, there is nothing I can do. My plan is to improve in every race that I compete in. From here I am going to the FBK Games and the Ostrava Golden Spike Continental Tour, then come back and prepare for World Athletics Championships,” she said. Meanwhile, Tsaone Sebele and Refilwe Murangi competed in the women’s 100m race at the Kip-Keino Classic, where Sebele finished in position six clocking 11.66 while Murangi settled for position four in 11.57. Murangi said the race was not bad because she had not been training for two weeks because she was nursing an injury that she picked during the Doha Diamond League action. She said her plan is to qualify for the World Athletics Championships. “I think if I can run one or two races, I can qualify. I plead for support back home because it is expensive to go for competitions,” she said.

For her part, Sebele said she is building slowly for the season because she started her off season late due to the time needed to recover from injury. “I was expecting better time. Sometimes when you are ready conditions can refuse. We were racing against the wind. I am doing everything in my power to condition myself, avoid pressure especially during this period. My next race is in Botswana. From there I will be going to Germany,” Sebele said.