Ryan Williams made history on Thursday when he won a gold medal in the men’s discus for Namibia at the Africa Athletics Championships in Accra, Ghana.
Talaya Vorster also made history when she won a bronze medal in the women’s pole vault on Thursday, to become Namibia’s first medallist in that event on the continental stage.
Williams became only the second Namibian athlete after Frank Fredericks to win gold at the African Championships, while he also became the first field athlete to win gold for Namibia on the continental stage.
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Williams displayed nerves of steel and a big match temperament to win gold with his final throw.
Till then, Lucien Wangba of Cameroon was leading with a throw of 57.18m, but Williams kept his best for last, and snatched the gold medal with a final throw of 57.45m. Righardt Stander of South Africa won the bronze medal with a throw of 56.13m.
It was the first time Williams had won gold at the African Championships, with two previous bronze medals in 2022 and 2024.
“I’m so grateful and honoured to be able to have taken the gold medal for Namibia — the first gold medal since Frankie Fredericks and the first field athlete in Namibia’s history to win a gold medal at this championship. I just want to thank my Lord and saviour for the talent he has given me and the strength. Nothing that I’m achieving is on my own and I’m so grateful,” he says.
“It was a very tough competition and we came into the championships knowing there’s a few guys that can throw really far and we all stood a chance. If you look at the results, you will see that we were very close to each other, so it was any man’s game and I’m just very happy that I came out on top,” he adds.
Williams says he felt in good form from the start.
“Everything felt very smooth and very good throughout the competition and I was very happy with how my throws went, and I’m very excited for the rest of the season. We are still waiting for the Namibian team to be named for the Commonwealth Games, but if I’m in the team I’ll start preparing for that,” he says.
“I have the possibility of going to Europe. There is someone that is helping me and trying to arrange a few competitions, but I might also stay and prepare in South Africa. We will look at the timing and how everything will pan out, but for now I’m just going to enjoy my gold medal,” he adds.
Vorster, meanwhile, won the bronze medal in the women’s pole vault after coming joint third with a height of 3.50m.
Ansume de Beer of South Africa won gold with a height of 4.30m, Dorr Mahfoudhi of Tunisia won silver with 3.70m and Tamer Reem of Egypt cleared 3.50m to come joint-third.