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Halimah Nakaayi

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Halimah Nakaayi
Nakaayi at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade
Personal information
Born (1994-10-16) 16 October 1994 (age 30)[1]
Seeta, Mukono, Uganda[2]
EducationComputer Science and Information Technology
Alma materKampala University[3]
Sport
CountryUganda
SportAthletics
Event800 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Uganda
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 Doha 800 m
World Indoor Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Belgrade 800 m
African Games
Silver medal – second place 2023 Accra 800 m
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Rabat 800 m

Halimah Nakaayi (born 16 October 1994)[4] is a Ugandan middle-distance runner who specialises in the 800 metres. She is the 2019 World Champion at the event and won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Nakaayi is the current Ugandan record holder for the 800 m both outdoors and indoors, and also for the 1000 metres.

She competed in the 800 m at both the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, reaching the semi-finals each time.[5][6]

Career

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2011–2017

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At 16, Halimah Nakaayi won the 400 metres at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games held in Douglas, Isle of Man.

In 2012, she ran the second 10 km leg of a marathon relay at a festival celebrating 50 years of Ugandan independence. After advancing from fifth to second, she spent four hours in a coma.[7]

Nakaayi was the flag bearer for Uganda in the closing ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics.[8]

The following year, she came second in her specialist 800 metres distance at the Islamic Solidarity Games in a time of 2:01.60. At the 2017 World Championships, Nakaayi was eliminated from the event in the semifinals, clocking 2:01.74.

Nakaayi (L) finishes at the 2019 World Championships; Ajeé Wilson, who came third after Raevyn Rogers, on the right in blue.

2018–2021: World 800 m champion

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In 2018, she placed fourth in the 800 m at the African Championships with a time of 1:58.90. She lost to, 1–3, Caster Semenya, Francine Niyonsaba, and Habitam Alemu by only 0.04 seconds.[9]

In August 2019, Nakaayi won the bronze medal in the event at the African Games behind Hirut Meshesha and Rababe Arafi.

The following month, she became the world 800 m champion in Doha, Qatar, improving her own Ugandan record to 1m 58.04s. She held off Raevyn Rogers, who made a late surge to claim silver in 1:58.18, while Ajeé Wilson finished third in 1:58.84. Nakaayi was joined in the final by compatriot Winnie Nanyondo in fourth.[10]

After suffering a knee problem she reached only the semifinals at the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics with her time of 2:04.44 (2:00.92 in the heats).[11]

2022–present

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Nakaayi competed in four 800m events of the World Indoor Tour and improved her Ugandan indoor record three times.[12] Racing in Karlsruhe, Val-de-Reuil, Liévin, and Toruń, she finished in positions 1–1–2–2 respectively, with bests of 1:58.58 (Liévin, lost by 0.12s to Natoya Goule) and 1:59.55 set in France.[4][13] She placed second in Toruń in a triple blanket finish with her time of 2:00.19 equalled by Ethiopia's 19-year-old Tigist Girma, and both behind Catriona Bisset who was 0.03 seconds quicker (photo finish).[14] In March, Nakaayi won the bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships held in Belgrade in a time of 2:00.66, behind Wilson (1:59.09) and Ethiopia's Freweyni Hailu (2:00.54), who overtook Nakaayi just before the finish line.[15] She won comfortably, however, with both Goule (4th) and Bisset (5th).[16]

At the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July, she didn't make it to the final after finishing eighth in her semifinal in a time of 2:01.05. The next month, Nakaayi placed eighth in her specialist event at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.[4]

International competitions

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Representing  Uganda
Year Competition Venue Position Event Time
2010 Youth Olympic Games Singapore DSQ (h) 400 m DSQ
2011 World Youth Championships Lille, France 26th (h) 800 m 2:13.59
Commonwealth Youth Games Douglas, Isle of Man 1st 400 m 57.16
2012 World Junior Championship Barcelona, Spain 14th (h) 800 m 2:06.381
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, United Kingdom 39th (h) 400 m 57.51
2015 Universiade Gwangju, South Korea 21st (sf) 400 m 57.13
5th 4 × 400 m relay 3:45.40
2016 African Championship Durban, South Africa 10th (h) 800 m 2:04.97
Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 17th (sf) 800 m 2:00.63
2017 Islamic Solidarity Games Baku, Azerbaijan 10th (h) 400 m 55.77
2nd 800 m 2:01.60
World Championships London, United Kingdom 19th (sf) 800 m 2:01.74
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 15th (h) 800 m 2:01.69
8th 4 × 400 m relay 3:35.03
African Championships Asaba, Nigeria 4th 800 m 1:58.90
2019 African Games Rabat, Morocco 3rd 800 m 2:03.55
World Championships Doha, Qatar 1st 800 m 1:58.04
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 24th (sf) 800 m 2:04.44
2022 World Indoor Championships Belgrade, Serbia 3rd 800 m i 2:00.66
World Championships Eugene, United States 19th (sf) 800 m 2:01.05
Commonwealth Games Birmingham, United Kingdom 8th 800 m 2:01.17
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 8th 800 m 1:59.18
2024 World Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 6th 800 m 2:05.53
African Games Accra, Ghana 2nd 800 m 1:58.59
5th 1500 m 4:09.40
Olympic Games Paris, France 19th (rep) 800 m 2:02.88

1Disqualified in the final

Personal bests

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References

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  1. ^ Halimah Nakaayi attained her secondary school education from the Ndejje SS Bombo-Luweero. 2014 CWG bio Archived 22 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Halimah Nakaayi – Profile". Olympedia.org. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  3. ^ Mukasa, Ritah (10 March 2021). "I am my mother's degree, says Halimah Nakaayi". New Vision. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "Halimah NAKAAYI – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Halimah Nakaayi". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  6. ^ "Athletics NAKAAYI Halimah". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  7. ^ Nakaayi, Halimah (26 November 2020). "Fight for your dream". Spikes.WorldAthletics.org. World Athletics. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony – Flag Bearers" (PDF). Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  9. ^ "African championships, Asaba (Nigeria) 1-5/08/2018". AfricAthle.com. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  10. ^ "Halimah Nakaayi: "Once you have a dream, fight for it"". Olympics.com. IOC. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Nakaayi runs below 2 minutes in new world best". The Independent (Uganda). 15 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  12. ^ Whittington, Jess (22 February 2022). "Swoboda wins sprint showdown with Thompson-Herah, world leads from Tsegay and Mihaljevic". World Athletics. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  13. ^ "World Indoor Tour 2022, Liévin (FRA) – Women's 800m". World Athletics. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  14. ^ "World Indoor Tour 2022, Toruń (POL) – Women's 800m". World Athletics. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  15. ^ "Ajee' Wilson wins 800m gold at World Indoor Championships". LetsRun.com. 20 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  16. ^ "WAICH Belgrade 22 – 800 metres Women | Final". World Athletics. 20 March 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
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