Nairobi — Namibian speedstar Beatrice Masilingi shut off all conversation surrounding her eligibility to be allowed to compete under the female classification in events between 400m and one mile by running a new Personal Best and Namibian National Record time of 11.20secs at the World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi on Wednesday.
Masilingi has been drawn into a push and pull with World Athletics over her participation in her natural 400m race due to the regulations on XY DSD athletes with naturally high testosterone levels and was forced to scale down to the 100m just before the Olympic Games.
But competing in Nairobi, the 18-year old put up a spectacular show to win her heat in National Record time as well as her semi, to progress to Thursday afternoon’s final.
“I am happy running the 100m because when I was in school I did the 100m, 200m and 400m. Definitely I am more happier doing the 400 but I am comfortable and okay with the 100 as well,” Masilingi told Capital Sport at the Kasarani Stadium on Wednesday.
The Namibian hopes that the experience she picked up at the Tokyo Olympic Games will be vital for her to clinch a Junior title in Nairobi.
Despite racing in Tokyo and coming out sixth in the 200m final, Masilingi says she still wanted to come to Nairobi.
“From the beginning, the plan was to come and race at the World Junior event and the Olympics just came about. Despite going to Tokyo, I still wanted to come here and compete because it was always part of the plan,” the well articulated Masilingi noted.
She added; “Hopefully the experience and exposure gathered from Tokyo will help me here. I am just here to do my best, show my abilities and I will be good to go with anything that comes. If a medal comes, it will be much better.”
Masilingi tore the field in almost pedestrian fashion in her heat winning in a new Namibian National Record and Personal Best time of 11.20. She equally dominated the semis, though she won in 11.35, the second fastest time in the three semi pools.
But, she was impressed with her national record.
“To be honest, medals are not always the target. If you run and get a new PB and you get to improve then I shows that you are good and what you have been doing in training is correct. I am just happy with my performance and pretty grateful to be here to compete,” she added.
Masilingi will line up in the 5:30pm final hoping to bag her first World Title. She expects stiff competition from Jamaican Tina Clayton who timed 11.34 in her semi but has a personal best time of 11.17secs.
Serbia’s Ivana Ilic with a PB of 11.38 and Jamaica’s Kerica Hill (11.43) are also other figures to watch out for in the penultimate race of the second day of competition.