CHRISTINE Mboma made a triumphant return to the track when she comfortably won her 200m heat at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to qualify for tonight's semifinals.
Mboma didn't have a great start, but her customary late surge once again came to the fore as she pulled away over the final stretch, before cruising to victory in 23,20 seconds.
It was her first race after a three-month long injury break, and she said the injury was on her mind.
"It was quite easy although the injury was in my mindset and I was just feeling weird and somehow scared of the injury. But the race was great," she said.
"I was away from the track for a long time, but I just ran now and Im feeling that feeling again, so I'm just looking forward to compete in the semifinals," she added.
Despite setting a relatively slow start, which was well behind her season's personal best of 21,89, she said it would be a different matter over the next rounds.
"In the heat you can run any time, but in the final we will see what time I'll run," she said.
Mboma will be amongst the favourites for the title, along with Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica and Favour Ofili who both won their heats in faster times.
Thompson-Herah bounced back from her disappointment at the Oregon World Athletics Championships, when she won Commonwealth gold in the women's 100m on Wednesday evening.
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In Oregon she only won bronze in the 100m, while coming seventh in the 200m, and on Wednesday she laid her marker in Birmingham by winning her 200m heat in 22,80.
Ofili won Heat 4 in the fastest first round time of 22,71 seconds, ahead of Gina Bass of Gambia (22,87), while Hila Das of India (23,42) and Nathalia Whyte of Jamaica (23,61) also won their heats.
The women's 100m semifinals are scheduled for 21h15 Namibian time tonight.
Namibia's cyclists started their campaign in the individual time trial yesterday.
In the women's race Vera Looser and Anri Krugel finished 22nd and 29th respectively out of 31 finishers.
Grace Brown of Australia won the gold medal in 40:05, with Anna Henderson of England winning silver (40:38) and Georgia Williams of New Zealand bronze (41:25).
Looser's time of 45:18 was 5:12 behind the winner, while Krugel's time of 49:46 was 9:41 behind the winner.
In the men's race, Drikus Coetzee finished 32nd in 55:05, which was 8:44 behind the winner.
The race was won by Fred Wright of England in 46:47, followed by Lucas Plapp of Australia (48:47) and Owain Doull of Wales (49:05).
