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Local athletes, Rainhold Thomas, Simon Paulus, Jeremia Shaliaxwe, and Paulus Iyambo are set to depart for Durban, South Africa this Friday to compete against the best athletes on the continent for a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Durban International Marathon.
The marathon organised by Phantane Athletics Clubs, will be held on Sunday 28 April seeing athletes competing in the 42km and 10km races incorporating the 2024 Athletics South Africa (ASA) which will be used as an official Comrades and Two Oceans qualifiers.
Namibia’s long-distance runner Thomas, who competes under the Namibia Correctional Service in Namibia and under Nedbank Running Club when in South Africa has previously represented the country at the Olympic games and hopes to wear the national colours on the global stage once again.
He recently ran a time of 01:05:59 in Kazungula Bridge Half Marathon in Kazungula, Botswana finishing fifth and ran his personal best by clocking in 02:02:21 at a race in Siena, Italy in 2021.
“So far training is going well, and I am looking forward to the competition. I know it is not going to be an easy event, but I am going to give it my best run an Olympic qualifying time,” Thomas stated.
Meanwhile, Paulus who ran a personal best time of 01:02:21 in a half marathon while competing in the 2021 Nelson Mandela Half Marathon in South Africa will be making his marathon debut this weekend and feels ready to compete as he has been training hard these past three months.
The 2024 Paris Olympics slated for 26 July to 11 August will see a total of 1810 athletes (905 men and 905 women) competing with a maximum of three athletes per National Olympic Committee (NOC) to qualify for individual events and a maximum of two teams per NOC per team event and one team per relay team events.
Lastly, athletes will have to clock in a minimum time of 02:08:10 for male athletes and 02:26:50 for female athletes at the Durban International Marathon to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Rainhold Thomas pictured at the 2019 Citi Dash in Windhoek.
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