21 May 2018

Isaac Makwala has won the Seiko Golden Grand Prix at Osaka, Japan, on Sunday. He clocked 19.96 to finish in position one.

On position two was Chinese Zhenye Xie followed by Dedric Dukes of the United States of America.
Makwala’s time has placed him in position four in the world in 200 metres, and some pundits are of the view that he can still better his time looking at his scintillating performance this season.

Whenever the athlete runs the 200 metres it brings back the 2017 World Championship memories when the IAAF medical team announced that he will not run the 200 metres heat and 400 finals after being diagnosed with a mysterious infectious disease.

He was, however, allowed to run solo to qualify for the event, and the world united and cheered when he ran in a wet track and clocked 20.20 to qualify for the final.
Makwala continues to prove to the athletics community that he is not only a superman in 400 metres only given that he opened the 200 metres season with a time of 20.10 during the Gaborone International Meet recently.

On Sunday, he bettered his 200 metres season time and his coach Justice Dipeba said he was happy with Makwala’s performance.
“We have been doing a bit of speed during our sessions towards this competition. So we are happy with the time. The next stop is the Eugene Diamond League where we will also run the 200m,” he said.

Dipeba said the 200 metres was more like recovery and speed work for the athlete, adding that they were preparing for the Rome Diamond League given that their ambition was to improve the 400 metres time.

Makwala said in an interview that his plans were to win the race in Osaka as part of his Prefontaine Classic, Eugene Diamond League meeting training, which will be on Saturday.
Asked if he had any plans of clocking a new personal best in 200 metres given that he recorded his best time at the Madrid World Challenge in 2017, he said it was possible to clock a new personal best.

“It is possible yes, but for now I want the 400m Personal Best more than the 200m, and as for the world championships, to be honest I have totally forgotten about that saga. I am now focused on the new season,” he said. Ends