The Sunday Mail
Deputy Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE triple jump champion Chengetayi Mapaya yesterday is likely to have had the most peaceful sleep he has had for the better part of the last 12 months, and in the Pacific Northwest state of Oregon, US, no less.
Mapaya’s romance with Oregon, and by extension the National Collegiate Athletic Association Outdoor Track and Field Championship, is likely going to be bitter-sweet going forward.
Only last year, at the same event, the 23-year-old tore his hamstring during finals of the triple jump, ending his hopes for not only a gold medal but a chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
To make matters worse, only 48 hours after the Texas Christian University senior was wheel-chaired off the dirt, it was revealed he had been earmarked as a beneficiary of the same Olympic Solidarity slot that later went to sprinter Ngoni Makusha and swimmers Donata Katai and Peter Wetzlar.
However, during the wee hours of yesterday morning (Zimbabwe time), he erased all that as his 17,26-metre jump not only gave him the gold medal at this year’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships but also saw him punch his ticket to next month’s World Athletics Championships.
It was a moment best captured by the image of Mapaya receiving a standing ovation from a jubilant crowd while at the centre of Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
The event was his bow on the US collegiate circuit and the competition.
Prior to the finals, he had nothing on his mind but redemption.
“Last year, I tore my hamstring at the NCAA outdoor championships, and this is more of redemption for me,” said Mapaya hours before the finals.
“I am excited, as I have put in a lot of hours to get to this point and everything seems to have come together at the right time. “This competition is going to be a stepping stone to going professional and I have to make it count.”
And he did just that.
The 17,26-metre jump was his season’s best, helping him pip favourite and defending champion Emmanuel Ihemeje of Oregon State and Apalos Edwards of Louisiana State University, who came in second and third, respectively.
The event also brought an end to Mapaya and Tinotenda Matiyenga’s athletic commitments at Texas Christian University.
Unfortunately, Matiyenga failed to replicate his compatriot’s exploits as he bowed out of the 200-metre race at the semi-final stage.
He could only muster a sixth-place finish in the 4×100-metre relay.
The TCU relay team, which finished the race with a time of 39.08 seconds, consisted of Matiyenga, another Zimbabwean Kundai Maguranyanga, Robert Gregory and Bryson Stubblefield.
University of Southern California (38.49s), Florida State (38.52s) and Houston University (38.64s) were the podium finishers in the relay finals.
The two top athletes also had to forgo the Confederation of African Athletics Senior African Championships, which end today in Mauritius, but kept tabs on their fellow countrymen.
“It is not really weird that I missed out on the African Championships as I knew from the get-go that they would clash with our Outdoor Track and Field Championships,” said Matiyenga.
“We are on scholarship here and there was no choice to be made …
“I have kept my distance from communicating directly with the guys in Mauritius so as not to disturb them, but I do keep tabs on the results every day.”
The two were into their final events with the knowledge that Zimbabwe had scooped its first medal in Mauritius as the men’s relay team finished third in the final of the 4x100m relays.
The team of Ngoni Makusha, Dickson Kamungeremu, Denzel Simusialela and Tapiwa Makarawu, who clocked a time of 39.81 seconds, finished third in the men’s final behind Kenya and South Africa.
Another medal hopeful, Kuda Chadenga, was expected to take part in finals of the high jump event late yesterday.
