L. MathekaSeason best for Ngii as China's Ma wins race walk
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Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 05.03.22. | 14:18
The Kenyan had to endure a lone race in the team event as she was the only female athlete in the competition from the country
Reigning Africa Games and National women's 20km walking race champion Emily Ngii got her season off with a 19th place finish at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Muscat 22, a race won by China's Ma Zhenxia.
Up against a stellar field that had, among others the World record holder Yang Jiayu who dominate at the start of the race, Ngii clocked 1:42.39 for a season best but way off her personal best ot 1:30.56 in the distance. The Kenya stayed with the leading pack, clocking 4 minutes and 12 seconds in the first kilometre and 8:47 in the 2km mark.
The going got tough for the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) athlete as she had fallen a few seconds behind the leading pack at the 3km mark, clocking 13:23 in sixth place. By the 5km mark, Ngii had fallen off the top ten list yk 11th place as she completed the quarter way mark in 23:12.
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She went past the half way mark in 48:58 in 12th place but dropped further tk 17th by the 15km mark before her 19th place finish.
It was expected that world record-holder Yang would dominate the race - and she did for the first 3km. In fact, she shot away from the gun on a blistering pace close to that breathtaking 1:23:49 she set just a year ago.
But in the heat of a Middle East afternoon, that dominance proved illusory.
Yang soon had to be content to form part of a trio that included Zhenxia and Peru’s Kimberly Garcia for much of the next 15km. And with Garcia already feeling the pace in the final quarter, it was Yang’s turn.
🏃🏾|The quintet has their work cut out as they go up against the best walking race athletes in the world at the biennial event
— Mozzart Sport Kenya (@MozzartSportKe) March 3, 2022
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Zhenxia continued to keep her nose in front, as she had done for a considerable time, and heading towards 16km she was pushing for all her worth to put distance between herself and the world record-holder.
In fact, for a brief few moments it looked as if Yang was tiring so drastically over the final 2km that she might be reduced to a stagger and caught for second. She rallied, and collected a silver in 1:31:54 behind Ma’s finishing time of 1:30:22, with a distant Garcia winning Peru’s first ever medal of any sort at the World Race Walking Team Championships.
Her 1:32:27 was only 3:31 behind her Personal Best, which was astonishing in the conditions. SB39 SB
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