Carina Horn (TuksAthletics) blasted to a new South African indoor record on Friday night as she finished second in the 60 metres sprint at the Val d’ouse meeting in Eaubonne, France.
Her time of 7.10 seconds is 0.05 faster than the previous record set by Wendy Hartmann 19 years ago in Maebashi, Japan.
Horn is also the joint South African record-holder over 100m with her and Irvette de Klerk both having run personal best times of 11.06.
On Friday the Tuks athlete gave notice in the semi-finals that she meant business when she won her heat in 7.16. It was just 0.01 slower than Hartmann’s national record. Her time of 11.10 places her fourth on the IAAF indoor-rankings for the year.
Horn has never been one to use a lot of words to express her feelings but did admit that she was excited about her performance.
‘The fact that I managed to improve on my best time in the semi-finals really motivated me. To be able to run even faster in the final means that the long hard hours are paying dividends.
‘I must be doing something right, but I know I am capable of running even faster times. I guess I just need to be patient and focus on doing the small things right, and then it will happen.
Before leaving for Europe, Horn was already confident of giving a good account of herself if her travel arrangements do not turn out to be a nightmare as was the case last year.
In 2017 the Tuks athlete got bogged down for hours at airports which led to her being late for races or just arriving in the nick of time, all of which led to her becoming demotivated. Her best time last year in the 100m was only 11.10s.
Horn has set her goals on trying to qualify for the 60m final at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham (2-4 March).
Picture of Horn in 2016 Olympic action courtesy of Oliver Morin/AFP/Getty Images