Paralympians Charl du Toit and Anruné Liebenberg are maintaining the South African para-athletics legacy on the international circuit, writes MARK ETHERIDGE.
Both took part in an international meeting in Paris, France last week and came out firing.
Double Paralympian Du Toit took part in the T37 200m and 400m events where he came second and first respectively.
‘I ran at the IPC [International Paralympic Committee] Grand Prix, where we opened our European season,’ Du Toit told Team SA.
‘I came second in the 200m against Matteus Cordosso from Brazil. He ran 23.55sec and I ran 23.57, so it was a really close race. I won the 400m and took 2.1 seconds off the world-leading time – 51.26 – so I’m really excited about the time as our main focus for the year was the 100m leading up to the Commonwealth Games.
‘I only ran one 400m prior to this race at USSA in May in Sasolburg. We had six weeks of 400m training. My PB is 51.00, so it’s really exciting.’
Du Toit and Liebenberg were scheduled to run in Tunisia again this weekend.
Liebenberg, a T47 athlete based in Stellenbosch, Western Cape along with Du Toit, clocked 56.39sec in the 400m.
‘I thought I might be overwhelmed with emotion as I can still remember battling over the last 100m in Rio… so I thought I’d run with a heavy heart,’ said Liebenberg. ‘Pacing-wise I worked very hard before this race and Paris proved to be the cherry on the top. I was so happy to be able to apply what I did everything in training for.
‘I ran a personal best and my race was calm and controlled with no fear of the last bit. The last time I ran a PB [personal best] at IPC was about six years ago so I’m very thankful and excited as well as grateful to SASCOC to get this opportunity.
‘This is not a great year for competitions so I’m making the best of my opportunities… especially after my two operations and a bad back.’