Marathon star Isaac Mpofu finishes 16th at World Athletics Championships 

By Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE’S leading marathon runner Isaac Mpofu put on a commendable show at the World Athletics Championships after overcoming the sweltering conditions in the Hungarian capital of Budapest to finish 16th in the men’s marathon race on Sunday.

Mpofu, who has already qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, crossed the finishing line in 2 hours 11 minutes and 33 seconds, just three minutes behind eventual race winner Victor Kiplangat of Uganda.

It was another decent show on the global stage by the 35-year-old Mpofu after finishing tenth during last year’s event in the USA.

The national marathon record holder said he was satisfied with his performance.

“The course was good, all was well but temperatures were a big challenge. The place is hot, so honestly we were drained,” Mpofu said.

“I was in a good position in on the 1st half (of the race), in the second half, I had to push hard because of the heat.

“It (the heat) made it difficult to take our supplements, as i started having stomach pains, all in all we tried and with his grace we managed to finish and am satisfied with my performance,” he said.

Another Zimbabwean, Ngonidzashe Ncube who was bidding to qualify for the Olympics failed to make the qualification time after finishing 37th in a time of 2:17:02.

The Olympic qualification time is 2 hours 8 minutes.

The marathon runners put a wrap on Zimbabwe’s participation at the Athletics World Championships.

A day earlier on Saturday, Zimbabwe’s representative in the women’s marathon Fortunate Chidzivo finished a distant 55th in 2 hours 43 minutes 28 seconds.