Namibian T46 and T11 sprinters Petrus Karuli and Lahja Ishitile won Team Namibia’s first gold medals at the World Para Athletics (WPA) 2023 Nottwil Grand Prix underway in Nottwil, Switzerland.

The final round of the WPA Grand Prix is underway at the Sport Arena Nottwil located at the Schweizer Paraplegic Centre. This year’s Grand Prix forms part of the 10th anniversary of the WPA Grand Prix.

Day two of the Grand Prix saw Namibian athletes compete in the 400 metre (m) sprints. Karuli who competed in a mixed race of T37/38, walked away with gold from his sprint of 57:48 seconds.

Meanwhile, another gold for team Namibia came from T11 female sprinter Lahja Ishitile and her guide Sem Shimanda, who won their race with a time of 01:00:92. The men’s T11 400m sprint saw Ananias Shikongo and his guide Even Tjiuiju win a silver medal and Chris Kinda and his guide Riwaldo Goagoseb took a bronze medal.

Gauthier Makunda of France ran the best time out of the three 400m heats with a time of 52:64 seconds and walked away with the gold medal. Shikongo and Kinda clocked 54.23 seconds and 54.31 seconds to finish second and third respectively.

T13 sprinter Johannes Nambala also walked away with a silver medal in the 400m sprint, while T12 female sprinter Lahja Ipinge and her guide Fillipus Kotokeni took home a bronze medal, her first in this European Tour.

After two days of competition, Team Namibia has won 10 medals, of which two are gold, seven silver and one bronze.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency