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Which SA athletes are on track for Olympic selection?

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on Which SA athletes are on track for Olympic selection?

By Karien Jonckheere

With the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games now five months away, 11 South African athletes have already achieved qualification standards for the global showpiece.

The most recent name to be added to that list was Cian Oldknow who ran the second-fastest marathon time by a South African woman of 2 hours 25 minutes and 08 seconds in Seville last weekend.

“I’m still feeling so excited and over the moon about running the qualifying time,” said the 27-year-old. “It was what we had set out to do in Seville. So to have actually done it is both a relief and an amazing feeling of gratitude and joy.”

Also among the qualifiers in the marathon are SA record holder Gerda Steyn who ran a 2:24:03 in December last year and Irvette van Zyl who ran 2:26:11 in Valencia in December 2022, while among the men, only Stephen Makoka has achieved the mark, running 2:06:42 in Osaka last February.

The timeline for achieving qualifying marks in track and field, apart from the 10,000m and combined events, began on 1 July 2023, with the final deadline for qualification coming up on 30 June 2024, while on the road, marathon runners had between 6 November 2022 and 5 May 2024 to qualify.

Among the first to achieve their qualification mark on the track was two-time Olympic 100m finalist Akani Simbine whose time of 9.97 seconds run on 16 July last year in Poland all but booked his ticket to Paris.

“I qualified for Olympics last year already and having that weight off my shoulders makes it easier for us to plan our season gearing up to the Olympics,” he explained. “I don’t need to stress about racing and getting my Q for the Games.”

Other track athletes who have ‘the Q’ are Luxolo Adams in the 200m, world record-holder Wayde van Niekerk and Zakithi Nene (400m), Tshepo Tshite (1500m0, Adriaan Wildschutt (5000m) and Marioné Fourie (100m hurdles).

Qualification for Paris is not only attained by achieving entry standards, however – with an additional 50 per cent of qualifiers being decided via world rankings. Taking that into account, 10 more athletes (along with the men’s 4x100m relay team) could be added to the list eligible for selection if they maintain their current rankings by the cutoff date of 7 July for track and field and 12 May for the marathon.

With several months still to achieve both entry standards and work their way up the world rankings, even more could be added, with a limit of three per country per event.

Speaking about the composition of the team, Simbine reckoned: “Team SA is going through a transition. There are younger athletes that are coming into the sport and I’m hoping they take the opportunity with both hands and come into the space with maturity and hunger to commit and do great things.”

“I’m looking forward to the guys qualifying and believing that they can compete against the world.” 

Irvette van Zyl, Road to Redemption

Tanika LaskeyNewsLeave a Comment on Irvette van Zyl, Road to Redemption

After missing half the year due to injury and struggling with motivation, Irvette van Zyl hit the ground running in the latter half of 2023, seemingly going from strength to strength as she found her racing form again, culminating in a number of high profile 10km wins and then her fourth win at the African Bank Soweto Marathon. Unsurprisingly, she now has her sights set on doing even better in 2024, including some unfinished business with a few big races. – By Manfred Seidler

SA’s Relay Woes Continue as Duplantis Soars Again

Sean FalconerNewsLeave a Comment on SA’s Relay Woes Continue as Duplantis Soars Again

South Africa’s last shot at a medal on the track at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest went up in smoke as the men’s 4x100m relay team failed to complete their race in the showpiece final on Saturday night. There was a distinct sense of déjà vu, as a similar dropped baton scenario as the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 played out on the back stretch of the track.

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This time it was the second changeover between Benjamin Richardson and Clarence Munyai that proved to be the problem, as Akani Simbine stood waiting on the home straight for the baton that never arrived. Explaining what happened, Munyai said: “It’s not nice obviously because we did quite well yesterday [in the heats], and coming into today, we were looking forward to competing.”

“Obviously, it’s my mistake, because I’m the senior guy and the change wasn’t good – he missed my hand, as my hand was moving. I was looking forward, so I didn’t see at the back, but I take the blame, it’s one of those things where it happens in sport, but you just have to bounce back and hopefully the next one we can put it together.”

Both the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay titles were won by the USA, with Noah Lyles anchoring the US men home and claiming a third gold medal to go with his winning efforts in the 100m and 200m finals. In the women’s team, Sha’Carrie Richardson added a second gold to her haul, having won the 100m and finished third in the 200m.

Earlier in the day, Irvette van Zyl “survived” the blisteringly hot conditions to finish the marathon in her first World Championship appearance. She crossed the line in 2:38:32, thus securing 45th place out of 77 starters. Having failed to finish two Olympic marathons and not even making the start of the third that she was supposed to compete in because of injury, just reaching the finish in Budapest was Van Zyl’s main mission on Saturday.

“It was just proving to myself today that I can,” she said after the race, which was won by Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso in 2:24:23. “I knew I wasn’t in the shape I wanted to be, but I just wanted to show to myself if I pitch up injury-free, I can cross the finish line. It was a bit of torture on the route, but I really enjoyed it. It’s a beautiful route, and overall I’m really pleased… I don’t think I had a plan today apart from survive and finish.”

Ischke Senekal’s best second-round throw of 16.20m in qualification was not enough to see her through to the women’s shot put final after finishing 32nd overall.

Without a doubt, one of the highlights of the day’s action was Mondo Duplantis winning the men’s pole vault, retaining the World Champs title he won in 2022 in the USA. He is thus still the reigning Olympic, World and World Indoor Champion. Having won the competition on the night in Budapest with a winning height of 6.10m, he asked the officials to push the bar up to 6.23m, so that he could try to improve his own World Record. His next three jumps saw him come very close to rewriting the record books yet again, but for now his World Outdoor Record of 6:21m and his World Indoor Record of 6.22m remain the highest marks jumped to date.

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Irvette van Zyl joins ASICS

Roxanne MartinNewsLeave a Comment on Irvette van Zyl joins ASICS

ASICS is proud to announce the signing of Irvette van Zyl. Van Zyl is a long-distance runner with multiple South African titles and is the current women’s 50km ultramarathon world record holder. The Pretoria-based runner strengthens ASICS South Africa’s road-running athlete portfolio into 2022 and beyond.

“It is very special for me having a brand like ASICS – that has over 73 years of high-performance brand heritage – believing in me backing my dreams and goals,” said Irvette.

According to Irvette, aside from the performance aspect of the brand, she is a big believer in the importance of sport for mental wellbeing. “So ASICS’s ‘sound mind, sound body’ philosophy really resonates with me. When I go for a run in my ASICS, my mind and body are in sync, and it just sets the tone for my day,” she said.

Irvette made her marathon debut at the 2012 London Marathon, after which she turned her attention to shorter races on SA soil. Not long after, she began focusing on marathons and ultramarathons. She ran her best time of 2:28:40 at the 2021 Xiamen Tuscany Camp Elite Marathon in Siena, Italy. In May 2021, she broke the world record for the women’s 50km in a time of 3:04:23, bettering the previous record by almost three minutes.

Irvette races in the METASPEED™ Sky, a shoe developed at the ASICS Institute of Sport Science in Kobe, Japan, after utilizing the data accumulated from its athletes over the past year. Stride-style runners such as Irvetter take a longer stride once they increase their speed, but their cadence primarily remains consistent. Thanks to an energetic midsole foam and a propulsive carbon plate, Irvette will be able to conserve more energy while maintaining her pace at the later stages of the race.​

“The METASPEED™ Sky is an amazingly speedy shoe to race and train in,” she said, explaining how her focus for the rest of the 2022 season is on bettering her 10K and half-marathon times, distances in which she has won SA national titles in the past. “Then, towards the end of the year, I will be looking to do a quick marathon, so hopefully, all the speed work on the shorter distances will go a long way to increase my speed,” she concluded.

Modern Athlete will be meeting with Irvette next week to discuss the move to ASICS and what this means for her career going forward. To be the first to hear all the news make sure to follow us on Facebook.

SPAR Women's Challenge Celebrates 30 Years in Durban

SPAR Women’s Challenge Celebrates 30 Years in Durban

Modern AthleteNewsLeave a Comment on SPAR Women’s Challenge Celebrates 30 Years in Durban

The oldest race in the SPAR Women’s Challenge series, the Durban race, turns 30 this year, and the organisers predict a fast and exciting race as part of the celebrations on Sunday 23 June.

The Durban Challenge takes place two weeks after South Africa’s most famous race, the Comrades Marathon, and many of the women who did well in the Comrades Marathon cut their road-running teeth on SPAR Challenge races. Gold medallists Jenna Challenor and Charne Bosman are both former SPAR Challenge winners, while Comrades winner Gerda Steyn finished second in the Joburg race last year, after entering as part of her training for marathons.

There will once again be a very strong field for Sunday’s race at King’s Park. Namibian Helalia Johannes (Nedbank), who already won the Port Elizabeth and Cape Town races this year, both in record time, will be attempting to make it three in a row. Meanwhile, the talented Ethiopian junior Tadu Nare (Nedbank), who finished second in Port Elizabeth and third in Cape Town, will also be running on Sunday.

Among the top South Africans competing are 2017 Grand Prix winner Kesa Molotsane (Murray & Roberts) and three-times Grand Prix winner Irvette van Zyl (Nedbank). Last year’s podium finishers, Betha Chikanga (Maxed Elite), Glenrose Xaba (Boxer) and Nolene Conrad (Murray & Roberts) are also expected to compete on Sunday.

The elite runners are expected to put up fast times. In Cape Town, the first 11 were all under the 2018 winning time, while the first seven in Port Elizabeth beat the previous year’s winning time. This trend is expected to continue in Durban.

“Durban is traditionally the fastest race of the series,” said SPAR Grand Prix coordinator Ian Laxton. “It depends on the weather, of course, but I expect a lot of runners to earn bonus points for finishing in less than last year’s winning time.” Laxton adds that he also expects top South African runners such as Molotsane and Van Zyl to make a strong push to get on the podium.

IMAGES: Reg Caldecott