2023 PREVIEW
Niekerk and Zakhiti Nene are both sub-45 athletes , and should find themselves in Budapest , while Lythe Pillay certainly has the ability to run 45 seconds flat , as he clocked a 45.28 PB last year at the World U20 Championships , where he won gold . He literally cruised for 250m before putting on an explosive burst that destroyed the field , and a more even-paced race in a deep field could well see him go sub-45 .
Middle Distance Mountain
Tshepo Tshite ( 1:44.59 PB ) and Prudence Sekgodiso ( 1:58.41 ) have the pedigree to hit the required standards in the 800m . Ryan Mphalele made the team in 2022 in the men ’ s 1500m , but the standards have become more stringent for 2023 . His 3:34.66 PB was good enough to qualify in 2022 , but he will need to shave off close to half a second to make the cut this year .
Only Elroy Gelant has come close to the 5000m qualifying time with his SA Record of 13:04.88 , set in 2016 , but the 10,000m qualifying standard is 19 seconds faster than the SA Record ! In the women ’ s 5000m and 10,000m , it is also a massive challenge : Dominque Scott-Efurd ’ s 5000m best of 14:59.08 is two seconds off the required standard , while her 10,000m best of 31:58 is close to 90 seconds off the required standard . Scott-Efurd has also been racing more on the roads of late , so may focus on the World Road Running Championships this year instead of the Track and Field World Championships .
In the marathon , Melikhaya Frans has beaten the required 2:09:40 in 2022 , with his 2:09:24 , and will be looking to book his berth on the World Champs team when he runs the Boston Marathon on 17 April . It is a stacked field , so he should be able to make the time needed . Stephen Mokoka is also fully capable of hitting the qualifying mark , with his best of 2:07.40 , but in recent years he has run 2:10.01 and 2:09.58 . He did run a 2:08.05 in 2020 , so he looks capable of getting to Budapest . On the women ’ s side , only Gerda Steyn and Irvette van Zyl have the pedigree to hit the
Wayde van Niekerk
Melikhaya Frans
required 2:28.00 , but Steyn appears to have her sights set on Comrades again , and Van Zyl has made no mention of wanting to go to Budapest .
As for the Rest …
The 110m hurdles are also not looking good – Antonio Alkana is the fastest hurdler in the country , but his 13.47 of 2022 is not good enough . Marione Fourie made the semi-finals of the World Championships in the 100m hurdles in 2022 , but her 12.93 PB is also some way off the required 12.78 .
Zeney van der Walt
“ looking at the qualifying standards , it is clear that South Africa will battle to field any athletes in some events .”
qualifier of 21.40m in the men ’ s shot put , but anything close to his PB should see him make the cut via the rankings . Jo-Ane van Dyk is sniffing at the 63.80m mark required in the women ’ s javelin – in 2022 she hit a PB 61.61m . Lastly , we should have a team in the men ’ s 4x100m relay , as well as in the men ’ s 4x400m and the mixed 4x400m relay . We have the athletes with the pedigree here , but for now it ’ s all about qualification !
Jovan van Vuuren
Zeney van der Walt also made the semi-finals last year , in the 400m hurdles for women , but her 54.47 PB is inside the required standard for a World Championship qualifier ( 54.90 ), so she has a chance . In the men ’ s 400m hurdles , Sokwakhana Zazini is presently the best in the country , but his best of 49.17 from 2022 is almost a second off the required 48.50 standard . However , Zazini does boast a PB of 48.73 , and if he gets back to that form , he could still get in on ranking points .
High-jumper Brian Raats came back with a silver from last year ’ s World U20 Championships and is an exciting prospect . His PB 2.26m could well see him sneak in on ranking points , but it will be a big ask to expect him to hit the 2.32m automatic qualifier . In the men ’ s long jump , Jovan van Vuuren ’ s 8.16m best in 2022 would scrape him through to Budapest as an automatic qualifier , and he will be pretty certain of making the cut if he hits 8.10m and gets to Budapest via the ranking system .
Elsewhere , Kyle Blignaut will need to improve dramatically on his 21.21m PB to make the automatic
Images : Reg Caldecott & courtesy Melikhaya Frans
16 ISSUE 156 | www . modernathlete . co . za