Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 118, May 2019 | Page 38

TRACK & FIELD
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Is track and field alive and well in South Africa, or
struggling? Given recent success on the world stage,
the sport does seem in robust health, but delve a bit
deeper and things don’t look quite so good.
– BY MANFRED SEIDLER
T
he weekend of the 25-27 April saw South Africa’s
best athletes congregate in the Germiston
Athletics Stadium for the Sizwe Medical
Fund and 3SixtyLife ASA Senior Track & Field and
Combined Events Championships. And there were
some spectacular performances, even if the crowd
was denied the chance to see World and Olympic
Champion, and World Record Holder, Wayde van
Niekerk, in action. Upon the advice of his medical team,
he did not compete, having just recently returned to
action following a serious knee injury.
Fortunately, that did not mean that the Championships
were lacking in excellent performances. On the contrary,
there were some exceptional performances from Caster
Semenya, Akani Simbine, Luvo Manyonga, Orazio
Cremona and Sunette Viljoen. There were some new
faces on the podium, too, which is always important
for the sport, and of course, a National Championships
would not be the same without the occasional upset...
In Good Health?
By the sounds of things, athletics in South Africa is
healthy, especially if one looks at the medal table of the
previous Olympic and World Championships meets.
In Rio in 2016, South Africa was ranked fifth on the
athletics medal table, with medals coming from Caster
Semenya (800m gold), Wayde van Niekerk (400m gold),
Luvo Manyonga (long jump silver) and Sunette Viljoen
(javelin silver). At the 2017 World Championships, South
Africa finished third on the medal table with six medals...
but four of those six medals came from two athletes,
which doesn’t point to healthy depth in the sport. And
the 2019 Nationals made that clear once again.
That said, we still have some good talent in both the
38
the African Champs title last year, he does not need
to qualify in the shorter sprint. The fastest man in
the country duly won his first 200m title in emphatic
fashion, but what was disappointing was that
arguably the race of the championships did not live
up to expectation. Unfortunately, SA Record Holder
Clarence Munyai was a no-show due to a hamstring
niggle, and defending champion Luxolo Adams
false-started in the semi’s. So the big final turned into
something of a showpiece for Simbine.
On paper South Africa’s sprints are looking good. Anaso
Jobodwana, the 2015 World Championships bronze
medallist, is coming back into good form. On paper,
Luvo Manyonga
Akani Simbine (left)
men’s and women’s 400m hurdles events. The men’s
long jump could see us send three jumpers to Doha
for the World Championships in October, and two are
medal candidates. Wayde van Niekerk should be back
in action come Doha, and it’s OK if he isn’t, because
the long-term goal is the Olympics in 2020. Also, there
are rising stars in the men’s 800m and 1500m, and
of course, we have some serious depth in the men’s
sprints, plus one big guy in the shot put, who despite
working fulltime, still sends the shot over 21m. So let’s
break down the good from the SA Champs weekend.
200m: Simbine Has no Peers
Akani Simbine opted out of doing the 100m and
focused on the 200m instead, as this suits his current
training regime, and with a wild card entry to the
World Championships in the 100m thanks to winning
ISSUE 118 MAY 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za