Halimah Nakaayi (born 16 October 1994) is a Ugandan middle-distance runner who specialises in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

. She is the 2019 World Champion at the event and won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Nakaayi is the current Ugandan record holder for the 800 m both outdoors and indoors, and also for the

1000 metres The 1000 metres, 1 kilometer run, or 1K run is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. It consists of two and a half laps around an outdoor 400 m track, or five laps around an indoor 200 m track. The 1000 ...

. She competed in the 800 m at both the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, reaching the semi-finals each time.

Career

2011–2017

At 16, Halimah Nakaayi won the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

at the

2011 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games, officially known as the IV Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Isle Of Man 2011, is a multi-sport event which took place from 7 to 13 September 2011 in the British Crown Dependency of the Isle of Man. ...

held in Douglas,

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. In 2012, she ran the second 10 km leg of a marathon relay at a festival celebrating 50 years of Ugandan independence. After advancing from fifth to second, she spent four hours in a coma. Nakaayi was the flag bearer for Uganda in the closing ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics. The following year, she came second in her specialist

distance at the Islamic Solidarity Games in a time of 2:01.60. At the 2017 World Championships, Nakaayi was eliminated from the event in the semifinals, clocking 2:01.74.

2018–2021: World 800 m champion

In 2018, she placed fourth in the 800 m at the

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between Africa, African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports club, sports clubs. List of championships ;Athletics * African ...

with a time of 1:58.90. She lost to, 1–3,

Caster Semenya Caster Semenya Order of Ikhamanga, OIB (born 7 January 1991) is a South African middle-distance runner and winner of two Olympic medal, Olympic gold medals and three World Athletics Championships, World Championships in the women's 800 metres ...

Francine Niyonsaba Francine Niyonsaba (born May 5, 1993) is a Burundian runner who specialized in the 800 metres and shifted to longer distances in 2019. She was the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist in the women's 800 metres. Her silver medal was the first Oly ...

, and Habitam Alemu by only 0.04 seconds. In August 2019, Nakaayi won the bronze medal in the event at the

African Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the ...

behind Hirut Meshesha and Rababe Arafi. The following month, she became the world 800 m champion in

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, Qatar, improving her own Ugandan record to 1m 58.04s. She held off Raevyn Rogers, who made a late surge to claim silver in 1:58.18, while Ajeé Wilson finished third in 1:58.84. Nakaayi was joined in the final by compatriot Winnie Nanyondo in fourth. After suffering a knee problem she reached only the semifinals at the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics with her time of 2:04.44 (2:00.92 in the heats).

2022–present

Nakaayi competed in four 800m events of the World Indoor Tour and improved her Ugandan indoor record three times. Racing in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

, Val-de-Reuil, Liévin, and

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, she finished in positions 1–1–2–2 respectively, with bests of 1:58.58 (Liévin, lost by 0.12s to Natoya Goule) and 1:59.55 set in France. She placed second in Toruń in a triple blanket finish with her time of 2:00.19 equalled by Ethiopia's 19-year-old Tigist Girma, and both behind Catriona Bisset who was 0.03 seconds quicker
photo finish
. In March, Nakaayi won the bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships held in

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in a time of 2:00.66, behind Wilson (1:59.09) and Ethiopia's Freweyni Hailu (2:00.54), who overtook Nakaayi just before the finish line. She won comfortably, however, with both Goule (4th) and Bisset (5th). At the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

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in July, she didn't make it to the final after finishing eighth in her semifinal in a time of 2:01.05. The next month, Nakaayi placed eighth in her specialist event at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

International competitions

¹Disqualified in the final

Personal bests

– 53.02 (

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

2017) *

– 1:57.26 (

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2024) ** 800 metres indoor – 1:58.58 ( Liévin 2022) *

– 2:32.12 (

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2020)

References

External links