Leni Shida, a Ugandan athletic based in Austria has again broken another record after winning the Women’s 400m in Austria’s historic capital city of Vienna.
Leni on Saturday May 15th, easily won the Women’s 400m at the 5th Midsummer Track Night in 53.01sec against nine other athletics.
Women’s 400m at the Midsummer Track Night is Leni’s first race of her European tour.
Leni was followed by Nikola BISOVA who finished in a 55:11s time. Others were Lena PRESSLER, Melanie BÖHM, Elena RONCO, Helene VOGEL, Antonia GANSTERER, Elisabeth FUCHS, Katharina ZACHA and Evelina STARA.
She (Leni) has been trained since August 2013 by the husband and wife coaching team of Kevin and Sue O’Connor a training that had seen her recording an overwhelming victory.
The Mid Summer Track Night is Austria’s annual event that brings together athletics,coaches and sponsors in the Olympic world.
Christopher Sanders, the mid summer track night meeting director said the 2021 Mid Summer Track Night was celebrated with a goal to provide high quality end competitions to successfully achieve the international standards for the Tokio Olympics or different Junior and Youth Championships.
Speaking shortly after the race, Kevin who was at cloud nine said the win was an unexpected due to the challenging weather in Vienna.
“I did not expect a fast time in Vienna. Firstly, conditions were difficult as it was very windy. Secondly, she would have been experiencing travel tiredness – the door to door journey was around 36 hours, and she did not arrive at her hotel until late”
Born on May 22, 1994, in Arua district Uganda, the 1.73 m (height) and 56 kg (weight) is by world rankings 29th and an Athletics medalist at the 2019 Summer Universiade – Women’s 400 metres held in Naples, Italy.
Kevin and Sue O’Connor began coaching her in August 2013, and she has represented Uganda at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow finishing at the semifinals. This was her first competition outside of Uganda.
In February 2018, in Kampala, she ran 52.47 to break the 12-year-old 400m National Record. She has now broken this record on 7 occasions, most recently at the 2019 National Championships (51.47), where she also broke the 12-year-old 200m National Record with a time of 23.43. Shida’s most notable international achievement was 400m Silver Medal (51.64) at the 2019 World University Games held in Naples, Italy. And now the Women’s 400 m at Mid Summer Track Night in Vienna, Austria.
