Botha’s athletes primed for 2025 

Namibian athletics coach Henk Botha is excited about the upcoming season after some impressive early performances by some of his athletes. 

Botha, who is currently assisting as a sprinting coach at the Crystal Gold Quinton Steele Botes Athletics Coaching and Training Clinic, has been working hard to get his athletes into shape over the past few months. 

“I gave them off in September last year but told them we will work throughout December, so we had a very tough December, but so far the results are very promising,” he said.

“Some of my athletes competed at an athletics event in Swakopmund at the end of last year and despite unfavourable conditions with strong winds, the results were very promising,” he said. 

“Beatrice Masilingi ran 7,5 seconds in the 60m into a strong head wind, which is a world competitive time. She has been training flat out and is looking very good, so we are now talking with her agent to see if they can organise her some races on the European indoor circuit,” he added. 

Another athlete who impressed at Swakop is the 25-year old Ezra Nakale, who has been training with Botha for the past three years. 

“Ezra did 47 seconds in the 400m, running into a strong headwind, so I’m quite excited about that,” he said, adding that they were aiming to break Mahmad Bock’s national 400m record of 45,80 seconds.

“We hope to break the record at the next event in Windhoek, because the conditions were very difficult at Swakopmund, while the times at sea level are not as fast as Windhoek’s high altitude times,” he said. 

“Ezra is looking very good and if he can go under 46 seconds I think he could get some invites to compete at the European indoor circuit,” he added. 

Cornelius Kuhn, who last year set a new national shotput record of 17,65m at the Africa Championships in Cameroon, threw an impressive 17,52m at Swakopmund, prompting Botha to say: “If he starts like that, I predict great things for him this year.”

Elizabeth Janse van Rensburg, who is only 14 years old, threw a distance of 38m in the discus at Swakopmund, and with time on her side she is closing in on Charlene Engelbrecht’s national record of 49,98m.

Another athlete that Botha is very excited about is Elton Hoeseb, who recently posted a time of 9,98 seconds over the 100m sprint during a training session at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium.

“We did an electronic test with a flying start with Elton and he did 9,98m so I’m very excited about his potential,” Botha said. 

Christine Mboma, however, missed most of the December training camp due to family commitments, but Botha said he has high hopes for her. 

“Christine missed a big part of our training camp due to family issues, but I had a long and hard session with her yesterday and she is very positive and committed. She is very eager to do well and said she will work like a slave to prepare for the season ahead,” he said.