10 Apr 2018

Nijel Amos is through to the finals after a good performance at the ongoing Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games held at Carrara Stadium.

Amos finished in position one with a time of 1:45:12. Although he had only two competitions ahead of the Commonwealth Games, his display indicated that he was fit enough to defend his Commonwealth title tomorrow.

Amos’ times in the two competitions have demonstrated that he is a man on a mission. He clocked 44.95 in 400 metres at the San Diego State Aztec Track and Field Invitational in March.

On April 1, in his season opener the Marobela-born athlete sent a clear message to his competitors at the 2018 Stanford Invitational when he clocked the second fastest time of the year which was also a new 1:44.65 meet record.

His coach Mark Rowland said Amos had prepared well over the winter period although they had a slight hiccup a few weeks before the Commonwealth Games when he strained his hamstring.

He, however, said it was nothing serious, but that it impinged on his preparations.

“We played things safe leading to the scheduled 400m on March 24 and utilised it to test the legs and get back on track with the routine,” he said.

The 800 metres finals will take place tomorrow (April 12) at 2:13pm at Carara Stadium and Batswana will be waiting in anticipation to see if Amos will deliver his second Commonwealth Games medal.

Meanwhile, Leungo Matlhaku, who finished in position five, also qualified for the 200m semi-finals as the fastest looser with a time of 24.05, and will compete today at 12.10pm.

Botswana was hit by a blow after two 200 metres runners failed to compete in their respective heats.

Pako Seribe failed to finish his race as he stopped midday due to what looked like an injury.

Karabo Mothibi did not appear in the men’s 200 metres heat as it was reported that he had sustained a left hamstring tear during the 100 metres race, hence he was withdrawn from the 200 metres.

Talking about Amos’s brilliant performance, athletics analyst Billy Tambula said the athlete started the race well by positioning himself behind the leader.

He said Amos’ race plan worked for him and that he was cognizant that if he pushed Mozambican Alberto Mamba from the first lap, he would eventually tire and make it easy to go past him.

“He then took control of the second lap and easily finished the last 200m comfortably. It was an easy race for Amos. He is in a good shape to defend his title,” he said.

As for Matlhaku, he said she was impressive from the blocks and managed to maintain the pace throughout the race.

“The front four opened up a gap but you could see that she really understood that her time needed to be fast to qualify, and she was rewarded with it. Chasing your time is very important in athletics and Leungo demonstrated that because she knew that automatic qualification positions were all gone,” he said. ENDS