The Khomas Region retained its Athletics Namibia (AN) championship status after dominating the two-day national event, held at the Independence Stadium here on Friday and Saturday.
The championship was used to select the final squad of athletes who have performed exceptionally well throughout the season, to the Namibian Team that will compete at the 2023 Gaborone International Meet in Botswana later this month.
At the end of the two-day championships, the Khomas region led with 994 points, followed by Erongo with 195 and Oshikoto with 130 points in third. Ohangwena came in fourth place with 81 points and Omusati completed the top five positions with 77 points.
Hardap (62) in sixth, Oshana (56) in seventh, Omaheke (52) in eighth, Otjozondjupa (18) in 10th position, Kavango West (12) in 11th position, Zambezi (11) in 12th position and Kavango East was bottom of the standing in 13th position with one point.
Club Petro Atletico de Luanda took the ninth position with 22 points, while Kunene region was the only one that failed to register points at the championship.
To be crowned champion once again athletes representing the mighty Khomas region were crowned national champions in the 100 metres (m), 400m, long-distance and field events as they scooped most of the gold medals.
On Saturday, Chenoult Lionel Coetzee of the Erongo region had spectators on their toes as he broke the national long jump record with an impressive jump of 8.27m to be crowned the new national champion.
Coetzee broke the 8.24m national record set by Stephan Louw on 12 January 2008 at the Germiston Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The 200m sprint saw a new national champion crowned when Hatago Murere beat defending champion Gilbert Hainuca to the line in the men’s category. While in the female event, Jade Nangula was also crowned new champion after outpacing Nandi Vass and the chasing pack to the finish line.
The nationals also saw athletes living with a disability running impressive records in their respective categories, with Johanna Benson the Namibia Paralympic Committee poster girl, scooping three gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 400m race. T11 sprinter Chris Kinda, T12 sprinter Lahja Ipinge, T13 sprinter Michael Muyenga and T54 sprinter Roodley Gowaseb also walked away with gold medals for their respective regions.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency