Incentive bonuses for World Champs Stars
South African world champion athletes Wayde van Niekerk and Caster Semenya pocketed R250,000 and R230,000 respectively from Athletics South Africa when the national athletics body paid out it ’ s 2017 IAAF World Championships Incentive Bonuses on 13 December . A gold medal at these World Champs in August is worth R150,000 , silver R100,000 and bronze R80,000 . Wayde won gold in the 400m and silver in the 200m , while Caster won the women ’ s 800m and grabbed bronze in the 1500m . Long jump World Champ Luvo Manyonga also received R150,000 , while Ruswahl Samaai received R80,000 for winning the bronze medal in the same event . In related news , in January ASA will pay out incentives for senior and junior athletes , and their coaches , who set SA Records during the 2017 season .
Junior Included in Preliminary Commonwealth Squad
On 14 December Athletics South Africa announced the updated list of 23 elite athletes in the ASA preliminary Commonwealth Games Squad to compete in Australia in April , and the big news is the inclusion of IAAF World under-18 Championships high jump gold medallist Breyton Poole . This will be the youngsters first outing with the senior SA squad for a major championship . The squad announced was not final , as further athletes still had time to qualify , and even after SASCOC announces the final squad at the end of January , ASA can still submit motivations for late qualifiers to be included , but the final decision will lie with SASCOC .
The preliminary team of qualified athletes features the following names : Men : Akani Simbine ( 100m , 200m ), Anaso Jobodwana ( 100m ), Thando Roto ( 100m ), Luxolo Adams ( 200m ), Stephen Mokoka ( 10,000m ), Antonio Alkana ( 110m hurdles ), Constant Pretorius ( 400m hurdles ), LJ van Zyl ( 400m hurdles ), Lebogang Shange ( 20km race walk ), Wayne Snyman ( 20km race walk ), Breyton Poole ( high jump ), Luvo Manyonga ( long jump ), Ruswahl Samaai ( long jump ), Orazio Cremona ( shot put ), Jaco Engelbrecht ( shot put ), Victor Hogan ( discus ), Tshepang Makhete ( hammer throw ), Phil-Mar Janse van Rensburg ( javelin ). Women : Carina Horn ( 100m ), Justine Palframan ( 400m ), Caster Semenya ( 800m , 1500m ), Wenda Nel ( 400m hurdles ), Sunette Viljoen ( javelin ).
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ISSUE 103 FEBRUARY 2018 / www . modernathlete . co . za
NEWS
I n t h e
Motsau and Nice Dominate Street Mile Series
Jerry Motsau and Anuscha Nice were crowned Bestmed Eden Street Mile Series
Compiled by Reggie Hufkie
Champions in December after they dominated the three-race series . On 16 December , they won the men ’ s and women ’ s races respectively in the Bestmed Klein Karoo Street Mile in Oudtshoorn , winning in 3:59.81 and 4:46.43 . They both won again in the Bestmed Madibaz Sport Street Mile in George on 18 December , with times of 4:03.89 and 4:47.27 respectively . In the final leg , the Bestmed ATKV Hartenbos Street Mile on 20 December , Jerry was once again first home in 4:08.59 , and even though Anuscha missed this race , leaving the way open for Nicole Louw to win in 4:51.87 , she had done enough to win the women ’ s series title .
Racing Around the World
In international racing news , two notable performances by South Africans in December saw Tanya Posthumus-Fox finish second woman in the Meia-Maratona dos Descombrimentos Half Marathon in Lisbon , Portugal on 3 December , clocking a personal best 1:27:12 , while Lesiba Mashele was ninth man home in the Corrida Pedestre Internationale de Houilles 10km in Houilles , France on 31 December . He crossed the line in a very quick 29:24 .
Van Niekerk ’ s Rehab Going Well
Olympic and World 400m Champion Wayde van Niekerk returned to South Africa at the beginning of January after a successful one-month rehabilitation programme in Qatar for a knee ligament tear sustained last October in a touch rugby charity match . He underwent surgery in the USA ahead of the rehab programme , and says the knee is responding well , but has not yet announced any plans to return to competition .
Trautman ’ s Comeback on Track
Champion long distance triathlete Matt Trautman ’ s comeback from a horrific January 2016 crash continues , with plans to race the MiWay Durban Ultra Triathlon on 4 March . Matt was hit by a car while riding near his home in Stellenbosch and needed pins and plates inserted to fuse vertebrae together . He returned to action in mid-2017 with a sprint event and then a few Olympic distance triathlons before squaring up to a 70.3 distance triathlon in December ’ s Race2Stanford . The two-time Ironman 70.3 SA Champion , who has several other Ironman 70.3 titles to his name as well as a win in the full Ironman Wales , is targeting the 70.3 World Champs in Port Elizabeth in September .
Images : Kevin Sawyer-Gameplan Media , Roger Sedres-ImageSA & courtesy Whalers AC