Douala, Cameroon — Triple jumper Chengetayi Mapaya picked Zimbabwe's first medal at the ongoing Africa Senior Championships yesterday when coming second at Japoma Stadium.
Mapaya finished second with a 16.87m jump to claim a silver medal.
However, he missed the 17.22m Olympics qualification, but still stands a chance of qualifying through World Rankings.
It was his first African Senior Championships.
"It's great. I can't be sad because I got second position on my first one. So definitely happy, I have had second position.
"But that's not what I wanted. I wanted to win. Now we are playing with fire, I could make it with my world ranking but it's not the position I want to be in.
"So I have to go back and see what's necessary and see what the world ranking is looking like. But I appreciate it because this is my season best. So it shows I am progressing during my season, which is good.
"So I have got to take the positives because if you take the negatives only its not going to go your way.
"So my head is up, the future is bright for sure," said Mapaya.
Ashley Kamangirira put up a good fight in the 400m women hurdles semi-final yesterday at Japoma Stadium to qualify for today's final.
Competing in heat one of the two semi-final heats, Kamangirira finished third when clocking 56.73seconds to book her place in today's final.
The top three from each heat and the two best times from each heat advanced to the final.
"I am just happy to be able to move on to the next round, to make it to the final. The environment is different out here.
"As far as the race itself, there is still technical things that I can clean up to get ready for the next round," said Kamangirira.
Going into today's final, Kamangirira will be hoping for a good day on the track as she is also eyeing qualification for the Olympics.
"I am just going to be a little more aggressive, and really focus on my technique.
"I feel like I am fast enough and strong enough. I have a good finish. I just need a better of a start and in-between execute my race better.
"Tomorrow I just want the best time. I want to break Zim's record. And I am hoping in the process to get close to, I guess moving up in my rank, try to make it for Paris," Kamangirira said
Olympics qualification closes on June 30.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"There is no pressure. I trained for this. I put a lot of work in. We made a lot of sacrifices in the US."
She was one of the medallists for Team Zim at the African Games in Accra, Ghana in March.
She won a bronze medal in the 100m hurdles.
"So I am grateful at the end of the day to be given the opportunity to come here and represent Zimbabwe," said Kamangirira.
Just before Kamangirira's event, Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Ngoni Makusha had qualified for the 200m semi-finals.
The first two in each heat and 6 best times across the 9 heats proceeded to he semi-finals that were scheduled to take place late yesterday.
Makarawu won heat two with a time of 21seconds. He went on to win heat one of the 3 semi-finals heats to qualify for the final on today. He has already qualified for the Olympics in 200m and is using this as part of his build-up.
Makusha placed third in a time of 21.32seconds, which was one of the best six times across the nine heats. However, he bowed out in the semi-finals. Zimbabwe has withdrew the 4x400m relay team.
