Athletics: Shida Leni braces for Keino Classic Event

It has already been an exciting season for Uganda’s star female sprinter, Shida Leni.

On April 12, she smashed her own 400-metre national record of 51.47 seconds, by winning an Athletics Kenya’s race in Nairobi in 51.25 seconds. Then, in Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF)’s fifth National Trial on April 26, Leni’s 800-metre time of two minutes 04.4 seconds, improved her previous personal best (PB) of two minutes 05.08 seconds, by over one second.

Not bad for a 400m and 200m runner! Further excitement lies ahead. On May 31, she will run 400 metres at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya. This will be followed by races in Europe.

Hopefully, she will qualify for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan in September. Then, she will be going all out for a medal at the 6th edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games, which will be held from November 7 to 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Leni is a talented athlete, and the tough training regime that she sets herself means that she deserves to do well on the global stage.

In 2021, Leni was part of Team Uganda that represented the country in the 2020 Olympic Games held in Tokyo, Japan. She is the national record holder over 400m, a record she has smashed time and again.

Previously, she has represented the country at the 2016 Africa Senior Athletics Championships in South Africa, the 2019 All Africa Games in Morocco and the 2015 version in Congo Brazzaville. She also raced at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.