Ugandan long-distance Juliet Chekwel marked her marathon start with a victory at the Zurich Marathon in Seville, Spain on Sunday.
The Italy-based runner debuted over the 42km with a winning time of two hours, 23 minutes and 13 seconds.
It meant that she became the latest Ugandan to hit the Tokyo Olympics grade after her victory beat the qualification standard time of 2:29:30 by six minutes and 17 seconds. A female marathoner can qualify for Tokyo between January 1, 2019 and May 31, 2020.
Chekwel also the erased the previous national record (NR) mark by nine minutes and 49 seconds, previously at 2:32:52 held by Linet Toroitich.
Chekwel will become the third female marathoner to represent Uganda at the Olympic Games in history after Jane Suuto in London 2012 and Adero Nyakisi at Rio 2016 Games.
Chekwel, who also boasts of the 10000m NR, will be buoyed by her consistent curve since winning the 2018 Cardiff Half-Marathon under manager Guiseppe Giambrone of Tuscany Camp.
Last year, Chekwel, who clocks 30 on May 25, may have been let down by a 20th-place finish in the 10000m at the Doha World Championships in Qatar but she had earlier won the Padova Half-Marathon in Italy as well as second place at the Bucharest Half-Marathon in Romania.
ZURICH MARATHON SEVILLA
1 Juliet Chekwel (UGA) 2:23:13
2 Gada Bontu (ETH) 2:23:39
3 Sifan Melaku (ETH) 2:23:49
HISTORY OF WOMEN’S MARATHON NR
Jun 19, 2011: Jane Suuto
(2:37:43) at Caen, France
Oct 18, 2015: Adero Nyakisi
(2:34:54) at Amsterdam, Netherlands
Apr 28, 2019: Linet Chebet
(2:32:52) at Hamburg, Germany
Feb 23, 2020: Juliet Chekwel
(2:23:13) at Zurich
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This writer is a global broadcaster and as well scribe with Daily Monitor Newspaper and sports presenter with Radio One FM 90 in Kampala. Follow him on Twitter: @AllanDarren and his Facebook Page: Darren Allan Kyeyune