Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 122, September 2019 | Page 52

TRACK & FIELD far this year, but winning the bronze medal at the World Championships in 2017 means he cannot be discounted. Expect at least one medal from the men’s long jump. Zeney van der Walt & Wenda Nel The Relays South Africa has incredible depth in the men’s short sprints and should be a medal contender in the 4x100m relay. They are better than the 38.66 they ran in Yokohama at the World Relay Championships, which sees them lie 15th on the current world rankings and thus qualify for the World Championships. To get into medal territory, though, will require a time closer to 38 seconds flat, while the SA Record is 38.35. So, expect Team SA in the final, but a medal? That will require something absolutely spectacular. Amongst the women, Zeney van der Walt is currently South Africa’s fastest 400m hurdler, ahead of Wenda Nel and Rogail Josephs. Zeney is a precocious talent, and at the age of 19, she has the world at her feet, so the experience in Doha will be invaluable. Her 55.73 to take second at the World University Games is a World Junior lead for 2019, but only ranks her 31st in the World in the senior ranks at this time. History has shown that if she wants to progress beyond the semi-finals in Doha, she will need to beat her personal best. Make no mistake, Zeney is a fighter, and is likely to do just that, but medal territory is probably still out of reach. Wenda has not been in the form that took her to a seventh place at the World Championships in 2015, and unless she finds an extra gear from somewhere, she will struggle to get into the semi-finals, so overall, no medals are likely for Team SA in any of the hurdles events. The Field Events Women’s Javelin: South Africa’s only medal candidate in the women’s field events, Sunette Viljoen, has not shown the type of form this year that will be needed to earn a medal in Doha, having struggled with a niggling injury. Her 61.22m season’s best is three metres out of the top 10 on the 2019 world ranking list, and that distance may not even get her into the final round, but she has delivered on the world stage so many times before, and may be able to do so again. The Marathon Ruswahl Samaai Men’s Long Jump: This is the one field event that does offer some good medal prospects for Team SA. Defending World Champion, Luvo Manyonga, does seem to like the big stage, and he has performed consistently at this level. To defend his global title from 2017, though, is not just a case of showing up. His 8.37m sees him sit only at fourth on the current world rankings, but he is still ahead of his main 2018 rival, Juan Miguel Echevarria. Olympic Champion, Jeffrey Henderson, is lying third, and ironically, it is SA’s Zarck Visser on top of the rankings with his 8.41m. However, that was jumped in March, and since April Zarck has not gone beyond eight metres again. Luvo, on the other hand, jumped his 8.37m as recently as 20 July. Meanwhile, let’s not forget another man for the big occasion, Africa Champion Ruswahl Samaai. He has only jumped 8.21m so Lesego Stephen Mokoka If you were to place a bet on a South African medal in the marathon, you would put it on 34-year-old Lesego Stephen Mokoka, who is in the form of his life. He defended his SA Half Marathon title with aplomb in July, clocking 60:56, which at that time was his third-best ever performance. Everything in his 2019 programme has been geared towards Doha, and it seems he is coming into form at just the right time, because on 25 August, he finished fourth in the Buenos Aires Half Marathon in Argentina, clocking a scintillating 59:50 to give him the fastest 21.1km time ever run by a South African on a record-legal course. That time equates approximately to a 2:05:40 marathon finish, which would have won Stephen the last three editions of the World Marathon Championships. However, on paper, Stephen is outclassed by the likes of Ethiopia’s Mosinet Geremew, who clocked 2:02:55 to finish second in London earlier this year, with compatriot Mule Wasihun close behind in 2:03:16. Both are in the Ethiopian Team, along with Lelisa Desisa. The Kenyan contingent is led by defending World Champion Geoffrey Kirui (PB 2:06:27), along with Amos Kipruto (2:05.43) and Laban Korir (2:05.54), and other countries bring equally strong fields to the mix. So the deck is stacked against Stephen... on paper, but the World Championships marathon is not run on paper, and he is South Africa’s best chance of a medal at a World Championship marathon is many a year. This race is more often than not a race of attrition, and Stephen will need to run the race of his life to do well, but he has never been better prepared! In the last few years, South Africa has had a number of medal certainties across various events on the global stage in track and field. This time around we have hopefuls, and overall it doesn’t look good for Team SA’s medal prospects. Based on current form, chances are we may come back with only two medals, one in the men’s 100m and one in the men’s long jump, but some of our athletes may surprise us by adding to that tally. 52 ISSUE 122 SEPTEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za Predictions