Prudence Sekgodiso claimed gold in the women’s 1 500m at the ASA Senior Track and Field National Championships at Green Point Athletics Stadium in Cape Town, on a day when the wind swept across the stadium.
Sekgodiso claimed gold in 4min 16.38sec, with Carina Viljoen (4:20.07) second and defending champion Danielle Verster third in 4:20.53.
In the men’s equivalent, In cold and windy conditions, Nkosinathi Sibiya held off challenges to win in 3:39.62, ahead of Christopher Swart (3:40.53) and Ryan Mphahlele (3:40.68).
Olympic shot put finalist Kyle Blignaut cleared 20 metres to wrap up another national title with a 20.09m heave.
Blignaut, who finished sixth at the Tokyo Olympics, put more than 30 centimetres further than his nearest opponent, Burger Lambrechts (19.78m). “I just wanted to come here and defend my national title and now I’ll go back to the drawing board with my coach (Pierre Blignaut).
“This was my third or fourth competition of the year, but I don’t feel as explosive as I did last year, so I think I need to get back into the gym and work towards my other goals this season.”
The wind meant that Marioné Fourie had to wait some 15 nervous minutes before launching her attempt on her first senior SA National Track and Field title, but there was no stopping her once the gun went off.
The 19-year-old Gauteng North athlete was the favourite for the title, but , as with other athletes, were kept waiting. The entire field had to wait in the starting blocks — reportedly to be due to sticking to the official schedule in line with the TV broadcast — and the chilly breeze that blew across the home straight didn’t help matters either.
Fourie and the rest of the field had to contend with a headwind of -2.7 metres per second, and it resulted in much slower times. She has a personal best of 12.93 seconds. The SA record is 12.81. But Fourie had to be satisfied with a winning time of 13.43 as she completed her set of hurdles without fault to clinch the title.
In the men’s 110m hurdles final, favourite Antonio Alkana claimed gold when he beat Ruan de Vries in 13.48 seconds. Alkana has been getting quicker throughout the season, but it was again difficult to get close to his national record of 13.11.
Clarence Munyai meanwhile underlined his status as the leading contender for the gold medal in the men’s 200m final on Saturday with a quick run in his semi-final.
Munyai lined up in the last race out of three, and stormed to victory in 20.03 seconds – although there was an illegal following wind +2.3 metres per second.
In the first semi-final, Luxolo Adams showed that he will be the main rival to Munyai by cruising to a comfortable 20.31 win. Adams though can be considered a touch fortunate to not have been disqualified for a false start. He was first shown a red card – which means DQ – before the official changed it to give him a green, and he could race.
The young Marione Fourie put her all into today's Women's 100m Hurdles Final and it shows. She took first place with a time of 13.43s. Congratulations Marione!🏆🔥#ASANationalChampionships #AthleticsSouthAfrica #CapeTown #Athletics pic.twitter.com/PmMXwKMe56
— Athletics_SA (@AthleticsSA_) April 22, 2022
No better way to end Day 2 of 2022 ASA National Championships then with a crowd full of supporters!
Thank you all for coming and tuning in. Let's do it in a big way tomorrow at the last showdown🤾🔥#ASANationalChampion #Athletics #AthleticsSouthAfrica #CapeTown #Sports pic.twitter.com/gQ4cPHzuUI— Athletics_SA (@AthleticsSA_) April 22, 2022
HIGHLIGHT:
Taking no prisoners, only gold medals, Nkosinathi Sibiya won the Men's Senior 1500m Finals at Day 2 of the 2022 ASA National Championships. Congratulations!🏆🔥
#ASANationalChampionship #AthleticsSouthAfrica #CapeTown #Athletics pic.twitter.com/OpvdW57ybG— Athletics_SA (@AthleticsSA_) April 22, 2022