Uganda’s Nakaayi Runs World-Leading Time as She Preps For The Olympics

It has been a while since the 800m runner got back to the heights of her world championship win, but all indications are that Uganda’s Halima Nakaayi is on track after running a blistering 1:57.56  at the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix last week. Not only was it the fastest 800m by a woman this year, but it was also a new Uganda national record.

This is the fourth time since 2019 that Nakaayi has broken the 800m national record.She first broke the record at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, her time of 1:58:04 being enough to win gold. Two years later she lowered it to 1:56:03,and last year she again lowered it to 1:57:62.

Nakaayi first came into the limelight when, as a 16-year-old, she won the 400 metres at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games held in Douglas, Isle of Man. She would later specialise in the 800m and in 2018 came fourth in the African Championships, only 0.04 seconds behind the winner, South Africa’s Caster Semenya.

A year later she became the world champion in Doha, but has struggled to maintain that form since then. A persistent knee injury meant she was not at her best, and only reached the semi-finals at the postponed 2022 Olympics held in Tokyo.

She could only place third in the 2022 World Indoor Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She was 8th at the 2023 World Championships in Hungary, and only managed 6th at the World Indoor Championships held in Glasgow, Scotland.

Her form in the last few legs of the 2024 Wanda Diamond League has not been very impressive, either, so the Los Angeles performance came as a major boost.

“I thank God, so far the preparations for the Olympics are good,” Nakaayi said after the race. “The preparations are going very well, we are working on a few areas with my coach Tim Robens, and I’m embracing every moment.”

The 2024 Olympics will be held in Paris in July, but Nakaayi will have her work cut out for a medal. Barely a day after setting the world-leading time in Los Angeles, South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso bettered it at the Diamond League in Marrakech, Morocco with a time of 1:57.26.

“I’m not under pressure at all ahead of the Olympic Games,” the 29-year-old Ugandan runner said. “I’m working hard with my coaches to make sure that I am very prepared to win a medal in Paris. Any athlete who makes it to the Olympics should have worked hard and what remains is to prove a point at the Games.”