Simone Kruger and Liezel Gouws again produced fine results on the final day of the Olomouc Women’s Para Athletics Women’s Grand Prix in Czechia, to wrap up successful meetings for the South African duo. Kruger, the gold medallist in the F38 discus at the 2024 Paralympics, won the event on Saturday with a distance of 36.73m.
It was a season’s best for the Stellenbosch University student. Her winning effort came with her second throw, but any of her other 35.35m, 34.55mm, 35.93m, 35.03m and 36.59m throws would have been good enough to win gold ahead of Britain’s Rachel Leck. In the T37 long jump, Gouws added to her medal tally for the competition with a silver, 4.31m. Remarkably, she recorded 4.31m with three of her six attempts, along with a 4.26m and a 4.16m.
Kruger, competing in the F38 shot put, won her event with a best effort of 11.88m. She was super-consistent in her six pushes of 11.31m, 11.45m, 11.12m, 11.18, 11.88m and 10.99m. All six attempts were further than second-placed Leck. Gouws meanwhile placed third in the T37/T38 100m final after qualifying with a 14.82 sec time. She went faster in the final with a 14.45 run, and finished second in the T37 category, with the race combining both T37 and T38 athletes.
Gouws had won the T37 200m. She won her heat in 30.37sec and went faster in the final to take gold in 29.83.
The event featured 184 athletes from 42 nations, including top Paralympic stars and is a women-only Grand Prix introduced to promote female participation in para sport. She won her heat in 30.37sec and went faster in the final to win in 29.83.
Gouws is competing for Team SA at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in the T37 100m, 200m and long jump.
Photo: Andries Kruger