Tanzanian athlete who finished third at Berlin Marathon fires warning shots ahead of Olympic Games

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ATHLETICS Tanzanian athlete who finished third at Berlin Marathon fires warning shots ahead of Olympic Games

Abigael Wafula 16:03 - 30.09.2023

Magdalena Shauri made her World Major Marathon debut in the streets of Berlin and with a third-place finish, she believes there's more to come ahead of the Olympic Games.

Over the years, Tanzania has not been synonymous with producing world beaters in long-distance races but the narrative is slowly changing thanks to some fine crop of athletes coming up.

From Gabriel Geay, there is a new marathoner, Magdalena Shauri, who turned heads at the Berlin Marathon last Sunday.

Despite Tanzania taking only one marathoner to the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, the duo of Geay and Shauri are proof that the country can also do well in long-distance races.

Shauri made her World Major Marathon debut in the streets of Berlin and to everyone’s surprise, she managed to finish third. She has set her eyes on the Paris Olympic Games in 2024 where she is hoping of a good outing.

“I can bring home a medal from the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. I want to encourage my compatriots to always keep in mind that we are capable of anything and they should not give up.

"We have the talent and I believe that when I continue training well, I will definitely do well in the future,” she said.

Meanwhile, not much was being said about her before the Berlin Marathon but she proved to belong in the chart after her dominant exploits.

The Tanzanian clocked a Personal Best time of 2:18:41 to complete the podium behind Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa and Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui who finished first and second respectively.

Shauri started her professional career back in 2015 and since then, it has all been blood, sweat, and tears to get to the level she is at the moment.

She made her marathon debut in 2017 at the Mumbai Standard Chartered Marathon and finished fourth. She then competed at the Hamburg Marathon where she finished fifth before competing at the World Championships where she failed to finish the race.

There is no record of her running in 2018 and she bounced back in 2019 but did not compete in any marathon. In 2020, she competed in two Half Marathons only due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 27-year-old then competed at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon where she finished seventh and proceeded to win the Kilimanjaro Premium Lager Half Marathon.

She took a break in 2021 and returned in 2022 where she also never competed in any full marathon race. She returned in 2023 and cemented her place in the marathon in the streets of Berlin.

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