Halimah Nakaayi’s journey at the 2024 Paris Olympics has come to a disappointing end after finishing sixth in the Women’s 800m Repechage Heat One on Saturday.
Nakaayi, who needed a win in her repechage heat to secure a spot in the semifinals, faced tough competition, clocking a time of 2:02.88.
The race, which started at 12:20 pm, saw Abbey Caldwell from Australia finish first with a time of 2:00.07, thus securing her place in the semifinals set to kickoff tonight at 9:35 pm.
Nakaayi’s time of 2:02.88 left her 2.81 seconds behind Caldwell, placing her sixth.
The Ugandan middle distance runner finished behind Eloisa Coiro from Italy, Audrey Werro from Switzerland, Gabija Galvydyte from Lithuania, and Flávia de Lima from Brazil, who claimed the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions respectively.
Nakaayi, who is the 2019 World Champion and 2022 World Indoor Championships bronze medalist, managed to outperform only Lorena Martín from Spain, who finished last in the heat.
Nakaayi’s exit from the competition follows her narrow miss of an automatic ticket to the semifinals yesterday, where she finished fourth in Round One of Heat Two.
Today’s race was her last chance to advance, but the opposition proved too strong for her.
Despite her disappointing performance at this year’s Olympics, Halimah Nakaayi remains a celebrated athlete.
She recently set a new national and personal best record of 1:57.26 at the London Diamond League, and holds the Ugandan record for the 800m both outdoors and indoors, as well as for the 1000 metres.
