Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 103, February 2018 | Page 27

Championships from 15-17 March at Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria . March will therefore be a particularly big month for those athletes going to the Commonwealth Games in April , to sharpen up and be in top shape for Australia , but you probably won ’ t see our best athletes competing at all of these events , as that would simply be an overload .
Still , you can expect some brilliant performances at the National Champs , where South Africa ’ s best will want to put on a good show in front of their home crowd , as they did in 2017 . For starters , Folavio Sehole and Jerry Motsau are calling each other out on social media as they both chase the 1500m crown . Both have incorporated the date of the 1500m final in their Twitter handles – that ’ s how important this title is to them ! Meanwhile , the likes of Akani , Anaso and Henricho will be lighting up the track in the sprints and sub-10-second times should be expected again in the 100m , and possibly sub-20 in the 200m . Sadly , there will be some athletes missing . Wayde van Niekerk will still be undergoing rehabilitation after knee surgery , while Thando Roto , who clocked 9.95 in 2017 to become the second-fastest South African of all time , is at the time of writing nursing an injury , as is junior sprint sensation Tlotliso Gift Leotlela .
THE NEXT GENERATION
While the focus will naturally be on the seniors this year , especially around the Commonwealth Games , keep in mind that South Africa finished top of the medal table at the World Under-18 ( Youth ) Championships in 2017 , and it ’ s certainly an exciting time for the younger generation . Inspired by the seniors , we saw some scintillating performances last year , with the standouts being hurdler Zazini ‘ Soks ’ Sokwakhana and high jumper Breyton Poole . Soks clocked 48.84 seconds for a World Under-18 Record in the 400m hurdles , and then went on to win the World Under-18 Championships title in Nairobi , while Breyton also won gold with a 2.24m . In November he cleared 2.25m to top the under-18 world rankings for the year , a height that already placed him joint fifth in the under-20 world rankings of 2017 .
Our youngsters will be competing at schools ’ events as well , to hone the skills and chase their selection first for the SA U18 and U20 Championships , in the Boland from 5-7 April , and then the World Under-20 Championships in Finland from 10-15 July . Athletics South Africa has been setting high qualification standards and criteria for international selection on the basis that they want the country to be placed close to the top of the medal table at global competitions , and while the merits of this policy have been hotly debated , one cannot deny that the under-18s were top of the medal table in Nairobi in 2017 at the World Youth Championships . Therefore , the standards to be included in the team to the World Under-20 Championships will likely not be easy to meet either .
Another fantastic opportunity for the youngsters is the expanded Puma School of Speed Series that take place throughout the country from January to March . While the focus is squarely on the sprints – hence the name School of Speed – there are also opportunities in events on the track up to 1500m , and as of 2018 in the long and high jumps as well .
LONG SEASON AHEAD
After the Commonwealth Games , there will be time for the seniors to take a short break before getting ready for the second half of the year , including the Diamond Leagues and the Africa Championships . Akani , Luvo , Ruswahl and Caster are expected to continue to set the bar throughout 2018 , and Wayde will hopefully be back in action in the second half of the year at a few Diamond League events . Anaso and Henricho are also due for another big year – both are former national record holders , but have not been at their best in the last two seasons , for various reasons . Cornel Fredericks has also been dogged by bad luck in the last two seasons , and we can expect something big from him as well this year .
With all of that said , a cautionary note nevertheless needs to be thrown in . While there is a buzz around the sport of athletics in South Africa at present , the country still struggles to unearth and develop female athletes of world class standard . Evidence of that is the fact that only two women are in the squad for the World Indoors , and just five in the squad ( at the time of writing ) for the Commonwealth Games . Another area of ongoing concern is that we seem to have pockets of excellence , in particular in the men ’ s sprints and jumps , but do not seem to have the same depth across the sport that the talent of this country says we should have . Hopefully the results of the current crop of seniors as well as the youngsters coming through the ranks will continue to inspire , and will spark a resurgence of the sport in all areas of the country .

2018 TRACK & FIELD DATES TO DIARISE

20 January Puma School of Speed # 1 Potchefstroom 31 January Puma School of Speed # 2 Johannesburg 3 February Puma School of Speed # 3 Durban 26 February Puma School of Speed # 4 Paarl 1 March Athletix Grand Prix # 1 Roodepoort 3 March Puma School of Speed # 5 Pretoria 2-4 March World Indoor Championships Birmingham , UK 8 March Athletix Grand Prix # 2 Pretoria 15-17 March National Senior Championships Pretoria 22 March Athletix Grand Prix # 3 Paarl 5-7 April SA U18 / 20 Championships Paarl
8-15 April Commonwealth Games Gold Coast , Australia 4 May IAAF Diamond League Doha , Qatar 12 May IAAF Diamond League Shanghai , China 26 May IAAF Diamond League Eugene , USA 31 May IAAF Diamond League Golden Gala Rome , Italy 7 June IAAF Diamond League Bislet Games Oslo , Norway 10 June IAAF Diamond League Bauhaus Galan Stockholm , Sweden 30 June IAAF Diamond League Paris , France 5 July IAAF Diamond League Athletissma Lausanne , Switzerland 13 July IAAF Diamond League Rabat , Morocco 10-15 July World U20 Championships Tampere , Finland 20 July IAAF Diamond League Herculis Zepter Monaco 1-5 August Africa Championships Asaba , Nigeria 18 August IAAF Diamond League Birmingham , UK 30 August IAAF Diamond League Weltklasse Zurich , Switzerland 31 August IAAF Diamond League Memorial van Damme Brussels , Belgium
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