Malawian short distance runner Asimenye Simwaka put up a splendid performance on Saturday to win silver in the 400 metres (m) race during the World Continental Tour Grand Prix Championship in Nairobi, Kenya.

Her performance saw the versatile athlete clocking 52.76 seconds behind the champion, Kenyan Mercy Okech’s time of 52.42.

Simwaka was also the only non-Kenyan in the top eight and the reader board results mistakenly identified her as a Kenyan.

Simwaka: I thank God

Mercy Chebet settled for bronze in 53.35 while Veronica Mutua clocked 53.93 to finish on fourth, Maureen Thomas was on fifth in 54.29, Sandra Chepkoech was sixth in 54.90, Ann Mbatha finished seventh in 55.13 while Jackline Nanjala claimed eighth positin in 55.70.

Reacting to the performance, Simwaka’s coach Pachisi Nyasulu said he was impressed, considering that she competed against the best in an intimidating environment.

“Asimenye is doing very well and she will do better. I am happy for her performance. It was not that easy with distractions from the fans supporting their athletes,” he said.

However, Nyasulu said the season best, which is shy of the 51.55t she achieved in Botswana in the qualifiers, is due to tracks.

“Her time is not better than what she did in Botswana because of the science of track use. Botswana is a fast track while Kenya is slow track. In other words, almost all athletes did not do their best compared to Botswana. For example, Kenyan 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala did 9.84 yet his personal record is 9.76,” he said.

In an interview, Simwaka said she was excited with the win.

“I thank God and those who have assisted me, including my mother for making this possible,” she said.

On the World Diamond Championship qualification, Nyasulu said the Athletics Malawi and Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC) are in a better position to comment because it is an administrative issue.

MOC general secretary John Kaputa said they need to come up with a programme to help the athletes.

“There is still room for improvement. We need to have a sound technical study on what to be done during training sessions where improvement is to be done. Success is a journey and not a destination. MOC sponsored for all needs to Kenya as well as to Botswana last week,” he said

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