Newly-crowned 800m Diamond League Trophy winner Mary Moraa now intends to work towards lowering her time next season as she comes to the end of her 2024 campaign.
Moraa has enjoyed a great season and clocked a season’s best 1:56.56 at the Diamond League Final in Brussels on Friday to claim her fourth win of the campaign and continue her great post-Olympics form.
It was Moraa’s second Diamond League Trophy, after claiming it in 2022, before losing out in 2023, and she is setting lofty ambitions for next year.
The world 800m world champion has not dipped under 1:56 in her career and is now targeting a faster time next season after the many events she featured in this year prevented her from training specifically with the aim of lowering her personal best.
“The season has been long for us athletes and the weather was not good to us [in Brussels] but we had to run because we had decided to compete and I am really happy the way the season has been to me and to take the trophy back to our country,” Moraa told Puravidasportsafrica.
“I remember last year, I lost it in Eugene and this year, I was like I cannot lose it again so I just focused on getting it back.
“I have been training well this season and I was like I can run 1:55 but the events have been many to me but next season, my hope is to run 1:55 or maybe 1:54. That is my main target from now.”
The Olympics bronze medallist had recorded wins in Doha, Lausanne and Zurich and finished second in Eugene, prior to her win in Brussels, but her times were in the region of 1:56 and 1:57.
She will now head to the ATHLOS NYC event in New York on September 26 before she closes the season.
Moraa last came close to dipping under 1:56 when she clocked 1:56.03 at the 2023 World Championships when she won gold and it would be a great sight if she can run a faster time to defend her title in Tokyo next year.
