BAHRAIN’S Abdulrahman Mahmood won a gold medal and set a new national record in the men’s shot put at the Belarus National Outdoor Athletics Championships 2019, which concluded on Saturday in Minsk.
At the same meeting, compatriot Noora Jasim clinched the bronze in the women’s shot put and Medany Marwan set a new Bahrain record while placing fifth in the men’s discus throw.
Elsewhere over the weekend, Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi set a new national record en route to finishing second in the women’s 2,000m steeplechase at the ISTAF Berlin athletics meeting in Germany. Also, Abraham Cheroben was the overall runner-up in the Course de La Bradery International Half-Marathon held in Lille, France; while fellow-Bahraini Albert Rop was a strong second in a men’s 10,000m road race held at Kristiansand, Norway.
All six Bahrainis are amongst the kingdom’s elite international athletes.
In Minsk, Mahmood was the top man in the shot put event after registering a throw of 19.31 metres. It was a new Bahrain record as he shattered the previous mark of 18.68m, which he himself set earlier this year.
Mahmood clinched the win by just one centimetre from silver-medallist Aliaksei Nichypar of Belarus while Dmitriy Karpuk of Russia was third with a throw of 19.10m.
In the women’s shot put, Noora claimed her bronze medal with a throw of 17.36m. Claiming gold was Aliona Dubitskaya of Belarus who had a winning effort of 18.81m, while her compatriot Alena Pasechnik took silver with a 17.76m attempt.
In the same championships, Bahrain’s Marwan finished fifth overall in the men’s discus throw. His mark of 52.66m was a new personal best as well as a national record. Marwan broke the old Bahraini mark of more than 30 years, which was 51.02m set by Saad Sultan in 1987.
In Berlin, Winfred was a leading finisher amongst a highly competitive field in the 2,000m steeplechase. The ISTAF Berlin event was a World Challenge Meeting of the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Winfred kept up with the quick pace of her race and benefited with a sub-six minute finishing time of five minutes 56.83 seconds. It was her new personal best as well as a Bahrain record.
She shattered both her previous personal best of 6:35.84, which she set in 2015, and the old Bahraini record of 6:14.34 set by Tigest Getent in 2015, also at the ISTAF meeting.
Winfred was classified not far behind Gesa-Felicitas Krause of Germany, who won with a World record time of 5:52.80. Luiza Gega of Albania came third in 6:00.07. A total of 14 runners started the event.
In France, Cheroben had a strong finish to take his final classification in the half-marathon. He maintained his place with the leaders’ group throughout the run and then managed to do enough to take second at the end.
He completed the race in 59 minutes 42 seconds, just over 10 seconds behind Kenyan winner Kandie Kibiwott who had a time of 59:31. Vincent Kibor joined them on the finishing in third in 1:00:29.
Around 3,500 runners took part in the half-marathon in its various competition categories.
In Norway, Rop too had a fine performance as he came just seconds away from taking the victory.
Norwegian Sondre Norstad Moen raced to the top of the timesheet with a victory in 27:24.2, while Rop had to settle for the runner-up spot in 27:30.8. Harry Sommers came third nearly half-a-minute behind in 27:53.8.
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