Nairobi – Olympic silver medallist Christine Mboma, who is unable to compete at certain events due to controversial rules over testosterone levels, said she wants to make her Diamond League debut in the near future after winning the women’s 200m at the World Under-20 Championships in 21.84sec on Saturday.
Her fellow Namibian Beatrice Masilingi, who is also classified as having differences in sexual development (DSD) with naturally high testosterone levels, finished second in 22.18sec with Nigeria’s Favour Ofili third in 22.23sec.
On Friday, in her semi-final, 18-year-old Mboma ran 22.41sec before Masilingi went 0.22sec quicker in her own qualifier.
But Mboma broke the championship record on Saturday with a run that was 0.03sec off the age-group world record she set in the Olympics earlier this month.
Mboma made her debut at a major international competition in Tokyo and only competed in her first race outside of Africa with an event in the Czech Republic in June.
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The next Diamond League event is on Thursday in Lausanne before Paris on Saturday, with two further legs left in the season.
“Records come and go, you don’t own it. Yesterday I set a championship record and minutes later Masilingi lowered it even further,” Mboma told World Athletics.
“I hope to take part in Diamond League events soon,” she added.
Under World Athletics rules, Mbomba and Masilingi’s rare physiology is deemed to give them an unfair competitive advantage in track events ranging between 400m and one mile.
Masilingi, also 18, finished second in Thursday’s 100m.
“The competition was really tough but what do you expect in a final?” Masilingi told World Athletics.
“To be honest the championships were really great this year. I did enjoy every bit of it. I am looking forward to next year,” she added.
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The pair are subject to the same issue that led to South Africa’s two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya being unable to defend her middle-distance crown in Tokyo.
Earlier, France’s Sasha Zhoya broke the men’s under-20s 110m hurdles world record for a second time in 24 hours.
Zhoya, 19, who was born in Australia to a Zimbabwean father and French mother, ran 12.72sec to claim gold which improved his semi-final time on Friday by 0.21sec.
“I’m very happy, the job is done, since last year it was the objective I gave myself,” Zhoya told World Athletics.
“Today in the warm-up I had some pain in the hips. It’s difficult but the life of an athlete is to manage that,” he added.
Jamaica’s Vashaun Vascianna finished in second place with a time of 13.2sec with Poland’s Jakub Szymanski third on 13.43sec, with the pair running personal bests.
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Picture: Getty Images
Source: AFP
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