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What a World Champs! (Just not for South Africa…)

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on What a World Champs! (Just not for South Africa…)

The 2023 World Athletics Championships took place in Budapest, Hungary in the last week of August, and what an incredible meet it turned out to be! We saw nine days of World Records, Championship Records, Area Records, National Records, season bests and personal bests, watched enthralling competitions and incredible moments of sporting camaraderie, and basked in what was one of the best World Champs meets of all time. (OK, it wasn’t so good from a South African perspective, but that aside, it was a great meet.) Modern Athlete had two reporters at the event, courtesy of PUMA South Africa, doing daily coverage and interviews, and now it’s time for a look back at some of the highlights of wonderful week of athletics action. – By Sean Falconer & World Athletics 

Relay team keep Simbine’s world champs medal hopes alive

Roxanne MartinNewsLeave a Comment on Relay team keep Simbine’s world champs medal hopes alive

South Africa’s 4x100m relay team ensured Akani Simbine will have another shot at a medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest after being disqualified from his 100m semifinal. The quartet of Shaun Maswanganyi, Benjamin Richardson, Clarence Munyai, and Simbine produced a slick performance to finish second in their heat in 37.72 and book a place in Saturday night’s final.

All our World Championship coverage is proudly fuelled by PUMA South Africa.

 

Speaking afterwards, Simbine said: “It was good. It feels good to run, it feels good to race, it feels good to be able to be on the track again… I’m happy, happy for the guys, happy for the team, and excited for tomorrow.”

This was Munyai’s first performance at these World Championships, having skipped the individual events. The SA 200m record holder said afterwards: “I was quite excited to be honest because they’ve been running and I also wanted to get out there and come compete. For me it was more excitement than nerves so I’m quite happy.

“We did quite well as a team, we executed and we all ran our legs quite well. We came out here and we wanted to qualify for the final and put a solid time out there… It was good [baton] changes throughout and as a team we trusted each other and I think we did a good job.”

There was disappointment for Prudence Sekgodiso later in the evening in the 800m semifinals. The 21-year-old looked to be in the perfect position to make a move, but around the 450m mark, she clipped the heels of the runner in front of her and fell to the track and out of contention. She nevertheless managed to pick herself up and finish the race.

In the women’s javelin final, Jo-Ané fell short of her own expectation, her best on the night was a third-round throw of 57.43m to finish in 10th place.

“For me, it was just amazing to be in the final. It was great, it was really what I planned to come and do here but I’m a little disappointed with how I performed. I think there’s a lot more that I could have done but on the day I didn’t do what I could. I had a little problem with my rhythm in the first and second throws so it just wasn’t my day today but it was a great competition and always good to get the experience of being on the world stage.”

Earlier in the day, fellow javelin thrower Douw Smit’s best effort was 75.03m in qualification was not enough to see him through to the final.

 

Watch All Our Athlete Interviews!​

Our team on the ground at Budapest have been interviewing all South African athletes after their respective events. To get an inside view into strategy and their thoughts on their performances, click the button below to see for yourself what it takes to compete on a world stage!



Watch Athlete INTERVIEWS


Watch Day Seven's Highlights

Agony for Simbine while Van Niekerk secures semifinal spot

Roxanne MartinNewsLeave a Comment on Agony for Simbine while Van Niekerk secures semifinal spot

There was more major championship heartbreak for Akani Simbine after he was disqualified from the 100m semifinals at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday for a false start.

All our World Championship coverage is proudly fuelled by PUMA South Africa.

“I’m disappointed. I’ve never false started on the circuit, never false started at a championship, so I’m just very disappointed,” said a devastated Simbine. “I just know that I moved when the gun said go, because I’m generally a slow starter. But it is what it is.”

In Simbine’s absence in the evening final, it was Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo who brought glory to Southern Africa. The 20-year-old star stormed to a silver medal in a national record time of 9.88 behind American Noah Lyles who took gold in 9.83.

Earlier in the day Wayde van Niekerk cruised to victory in his opening 400m heat in a time of 44.57 to qualify for the semifinals. Zakithi Nene made a blunder at the end of his race to allow two athletes in front of him at the finish to deny him automatic qualification. His time of 44.88 was enough to see him safely through to the semifinals as one of the fastest losers, however.

Speaking after the race, Van Niekerk said: “The heats and the semifinals are about surviving so I had to read my competitors and gauge off of them. That’s what I did in the heats and I think it should be a similar strategy in the semis and then in the final we’ll give it what we’ve got left.”

Nene reckoned he would learn from his mistakes, saying: “I judged the race well to about 300 or 320m, and I thought the race was over then before it was even over. So that’s on me, poor judgement of the race but I’ll fix it in the semi.”

Also through to the women’s 400m semifinals was Zeney van der Walt, who is doubling up at these championships – also competing in the 400m hurdles. The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist finished third in her 400m heat in 51.76 to book a spot in Monday’s semifinals. She’ll also be contesting the 400m hurdles heats on Monday, with just over two hours to recover between the two races.

“It feels really great, it feels amazing to advance to the semifinals and I’m very excited,” said Van der Walt. “My coach and I decided to do both events this year to take the challenge and to see how my body can manage it and to use it as a stepping stone here.”

Watch All Our Athlete Interviews!

Our team on the ground at Budapest have been interviewing all South African athletes after their respective events. To get an inside view into strategy and their thoughts on their performances, click the button below to see for yourself what it takes to compete on a world stage!



Watch Athlete INTERVIEWS


Watch Day Two's Highlights