27 May 2018

Isaac Makwala has had a bad day in office due to an injury in the 200m race at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, in the IAAF Diamond League meeting on Saturday (May 26) evening.

Makwala started the race like a house on fire and was determined to embarrass track favourite, American Noah Lyles.

It was evident that, despite sharing the same track with 200m specialists, Makwala had planned his race well given that before he pulled out, they were locked together with Lyles, but the injury denied spectators what could have been a photo finish.

Makwala said in an interview that he had a hamstring strain during the race, hence he pulled out immediately.

He said he would fly to Netherlands today (May 28) for assessment, adding that he would miss the Rome Diamond League event scheduled for May 31.

“I can only be in a good position to talk about how big or small is the injury after the doctor’s assessment,” he said. 

Track and field analyst, Billy Tambula said Makwala took off well from the block better than his Osaka race.

He said his 100m was fast and it was evident that he was gunning for a good time in the race as he managed to hold off Lyles for almost the entire curve.

“Knowing his 400m strength, he was in a position to maintain that strength to the finish. We were most likely to atleast get a new PB from him,” he said.

Still in Eugene, Nijel Amos took second position in the 800m race in the non-Diamond league event on May 25.

Amos, who competed for the first time after he was sidelined by an injury he sustained at the Commonwealth Games, clocked 1:45.51 after Kenyan Emmanuel Korir who stopped the clock at 1:45.16.

Tambula said the injury might have cost him a few training sessions.

He however said if he had recovered well, he would do well in his coming Diamond League race in Rome.

“We will also be waiting to see what Korir will do after winning the first Diamond League race in Doha,” he said. ENDS