SPORT MAN
SAYS sport man says by MANFRED SEIDLER
My Athletes of the Year
I won ’ t let the sun go down on me … That was certainly the motto of a few exceptional people in the world of athletics in 2021 , and thus I am able to make my selection of Athletes of the Year , both local and global .
This past year was another brutal year for the sport due to the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to cause havoc and mayhem . Thankfully , there were some events again , more so internationally than here in South Africa , including the delayed Tokyo Olympics , but even here we have started to see some brave organisers finding ways to get things moving again . And looking back on 2021 , there were a number of athletes that certainly did not let the sun go down on them .
SA Female Athlete of the Year Gerda Steyn
Sublime is the only way you can sum up Gerda Steyn in 2021 . First she broke the 25-year-old SA Marathon record of Colleen de Reuck , by running 2:25:28 in Siena , Italy in April . Then , after clocking 2:32:10 to finish 15th in the Olympic Marathon , she lined up for the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in October as one of the leading contenders to win the World Athletics Gold Label race in the Mother City . She proceeded to take the race to the deepest women ’ s field ever brought to Cape Town .
For most of the race , Steyn was surging and pushing the pace , and it was only in the latter stages of the race that her “ wheels came off .” Given that she had run the Tokyo Olympic Marathon a mere two months earlier in brutal conditions , her fourth-place finish in Cape Town was quite the performance . In the process she ran 2:26:25 , the fastest time ever run by a South African woman on South African soil .
To me , this result , more than her record performance in Siena , was a true coming of age in the marathon . For the first time , Steyn was racing her opposition in the marathon , and that is a different ball game to ‘ time trialling ’ on her own to another win , as has been the case in some of her ultra victories . Based on what we witnessed in Cape Town , there is a lot more to come from her over the iconic distance .
It will be interesting to see what she chooses to do next , whether she chases more records at the two big ultras in South Africa , Two Oceans and Comrades or chases a faster time in the marathon . Based on her marathon time , she could utterly destroy both ultra ’ s records , but my money is on Steyn smashing another fast marathon – and I believe she is capable of posting a 2:22 !
She recently joined up with coach Andrew Booyens , who has helped turn young Tayla Kavanagh into a sensation in just 10 months of working together , and Steyn is now preparing for a 10km in Europe at the end of December . She has never prepared specifically for a 10km per se , so this will be an interesting result to look out for , but irrespective of how that race goes , she comfortably deserves the title of SA Athlete of the Year .
SA Male Athlete ( s ) of the Year SA Under-20 4x100m Relay Squad ( Mihlali Xhotyeni , Sinesipho Dambile , Letlhogonolo Moleyane , Benjamin Richardson )
Gerda Steyn setting the pace in the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon The SA U20 4x100m Relay Team celebrates its World Record in Kenya
42 ISSUE 147 DECEMBER 2021 | www . modernathlete . co . za