TRACK & FIELD
Living Up to
EXPECTATION
Having won the men ’ s 400m title at the recent World U20 Championships in Columbia , Lythe Pillay is very much living up to the widely held expectations that he is a potential superstar in the making for SA athletics , but it was not an easy road to that World Champs title , as the young sprinter had to dig deep to come back from injury , illness and disappointment along the way . – BY MANFRED SEIDLER with SEAN FALCONER
When meeting the tall , lean , lanky Lythe Pillay , the first thing one is struck by is his immensely respectful demeanour , of all around him . The 19-year-old is neither loud , nor boisterous , but on the track , his running speaks volumes as he smoothly glides home to complete another one-lap race in his specialist 400m event . Normally , he is also quite reserved
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ISSUE 153 | www . modernathlete . co . za when celebrating a win , but at the recent World U20 ( Under-20 ) Championships in Cali , Columbia , he let it all out as he came home to win a World Title for the first time .
He was a picture of calmness as he comfortably won his first-round heat in 46.02 seconds , and followed that with a winning 45.61 in his semi-final . It was his fastest time of 2022 , and the fourth-fastest of his young career . Then came the final , and after a false start by Jamaica ’ s Delano Kennedy forced a restart , Lythe initially seemed slightly off the pace in the first 150m , but as the athletes approached the halfway mark of the race , you could visually see how Lythe stepped up the pace .
The arms started to pump harder and the leg turnover increased as he started to eat up the field , and turning into the home straight , he took control of the race as he eased away from the rest of the field . With about 40 metres to go , he stole a quick glance to either side , and seeing no-one within striking distance , he began to celebrate , punching the air and beating his chest as he cruised over the line in 45.28 , a new personal best by close to three tenths of a second , and comfortably ahead of second-placed American Steven McElroy ( 45.65 ). Then , for the first time in his running career , Lythe showed big emotion . He knelt down on the track and hid his face in his hands as all the emotion finally came welling to the surface , because it had been a rough journey to get to Cali , and winning this World Title was a big deal for him . More about that later .
Another touching moment followed , as Lythe was standing on the finish line , soaking up his victory , when Britain ’ s Yemi Mary John , who had just won the women ’ s 400m race , came up to him and literally crowned him . In expectation of her winning the women ’ s race , her supporters had a tiara waiting for her at the finish line , and when Lythe won the men ’ s race , she came up to him , put her arm around him and crowned him . “ That was not planned at all . I actually hadn ’ t spoken to her prior to the event . It was quite a surprise to me , but she made quite an iconic moment out of it . I was a bit bewildered and shocked , but I thought I would go with it , because I could see where she was going with it . It was quite a cool moment to have ,” says Lythe .
A DISAPPOINTING RESULT
There were actually two reasons Lythe felt so emotional about his win in Cali . The first was his disappointing result in the 2021 World U20 Champs in Nairobi , Kenya last August . These Champs had been postponed from 2020 to 2021 , due to the COVID lockdown , and Lythe went into the meet as the out-and-out favourite to win the World Title , having twice represented South Africa at senior level that same year . In May , he was part of the SA 4x400m team that finished fifth at the World Athletics Relay Champs in Chorzów , Poland , and then in early August , Lythe found himself at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan ,
Images : Getty Images & Courtesy ASA