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.
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ISSUE 122 SEPTEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
Predictions