Williams wins bronze in Douala

Ryan Williams won Namibia’s second medal at the Africa Senior Athletics Championships in Douala, Cameroon on Sunday when he came third in the men’s discus final. 

Oussama Khennoussi of Algeria won the gold medal with a distance of 63,90m, to finish a mere three centimetres ahead of South Africa’s Victor Hogan, who won silver with a distance of  63,87m. Williams came third with a distance of 56,78m to win the bronze medal. 

It was the second time this year that Williams had won a bronze medal at a major continental championship, after he came third in the men’s discus at the Africa Games in Accra, Ghana in March with a distance of 55,42m.

Neither these two throws were, however, close to his Namibian record of 61,15m which he set last year, while it’s also quite a way off the Olympic qualifying distance of 67,20m. 

Williams said he was hoping to do better. 

“It feels good, I was hoping to do a little bit better, but I’m happy with the result and I’m proud to represent my country once again. Thank you so much for all the support throughout the year, it was a crazy year with all the competitions being pushed into one year, but we are very thankful for all your support and keep on supporting us,” he said. 

It was Namibia’s second medal at the Africa Senior Athletics Championships after Lionel Coetzee won silver in the men’s long jump on Saturday evening. 

Coetzee was initially placed first in the men’s long jump final after he and South Africa’s Cheswill Johnson both cleared 7,78m. 

After a review, however, the gold medal was awarded to Johnson after a count-back to their third jumps where Johnson had a better distance. 

In more action on Sunday, Namibia’s 4x100m men’s relay team qualified for the final after finishing fourth in their heat in a new Namibian record time of 39,09 seconds. 

The team consisted of Onesmus Nekundi, Elvis Gaseb, Hatago Murere and Gilbert Hainuca, who beat the former record of 39,22 seconds that was set by Even Tjiviju, Hitjivirue Kaanjuka, Dantago Gurirab and Jesse Urikhob at the Africa Games in 2015. 

Namibia’s 4x100m women’s relay team of Jade Nangula, Kazaatjo Kambiri, Sade de Sousa and Ndawana Haitembu also qualified for the final after coming third in their heat in 45,55 seconds. It was, however, nearly two seconds off the national record of 43,76 that was set by Haitembu, Christine Mboma, Beatrice Masilingi and Nandi Vass in 2021. 

Both the men and women’s 4x100m relay finals were scheduled to take place last night.