03 Jul 2021

Botswana’s top athlete Isaac Makwala will compete in the Wanda Diamond League circuit in Stockholm, Sweden tomorrow (July04).

Makwala, who finished third in 200m in Doha Wanda Diamond League on Thursday, will compete in his traditional 400m where he is expected to face stiff competition from athletes like Grenadian Kiran James, Dutch sprinter Liemarvin Bonevacia, Emil Johansson from Sweden, Trinidadian sprinter Deon Lendore, American’s Wilbert London, and Vernon Norwood, Dominican Republic's Alexander Ogando.

His recent performance put him in a good position to finish in the top three brackets and will serve as a motivator before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Commenting on Makwala’s recent Oslo meet, track and field analyst Aobakwe Showa noted that Makwala started off slowly but better than during his 200m race in FBK Hengelo games.

He said Italian Fortune Eseosa, who was on the inside lane, was the quickest and closed a stagger on Makwala in the first 50m, adding that Canadian duo of Andre de Grasse and Aaron Brown, who scooped position one and two respectively, had a better start than Makwala.

Showa observed that Makwala managed to find his rhythm quickly and was almost on a level with Brown, De Grasse as he came from behind to beat Desalu clinching position three.

 According to Showa, De Grasse showed his class as he pulled from the rest of the field and won convincingly with a time of 20:09 followed by his compatriot Brown while Makwala came in third with a time of 20:61.

“It was not a fast track as almost no one produced a season-best and it was Makwala’s slowest time this year,” he said. Ends