TOP Zimbabwean sprinter Ngonidzashe Makusha will take to the track in Heat one of the 100 meters tomorrow morning (Saturday) as he makes his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2021.
Makusha failed to meet Olympic standard time and had to qualify using the universal slot to keep his Olympic dream alive.
In Heat One, the Zimbabwean will have to battle it out with rival sprinters from other countries who also qualified using the universal entry. The top three athletes in his Heat will proceed to the next round.
Makusha will however be buoyed by the fact that among those in his Heat, none has run faster than his personal best time of 10.17 and season-best of 10.26.
The 26-year-old who has been presented with a golden chance to go to the next round will hope to emulate fellow Zimbabwe Olympians Donata Katai and Peter Wetzlar. They qualified using the universality route and recorded their personal best times in swimming at this year’s summer games.
After round one, the competition gets more challenging as Makusha will have to battle it out against the world’s best sprinters if he manages to get out of Heat one.
Makusha will have no excuses to finish in the top three because he was finally joined by coach David Tinago who was initially sidelined by those governing local athletics. But through contributions from well-wishers, Tinago flew to Tokyo a few days ago to join his athlete.
Heat 1 begins at 04:35 am Central Africa Time, and many Zimbabweans will brave the chilly weather to support Makusha.
