Exciting relay prospect for SA with crop of new athletes

The quickest way of transforming South Africa’s new generation of 100m sprinters into world-beaters would be to combine them into a relay team.

Henricho Bruintjies and Akani Simbine, teammates at the University of Pretoria, are the two newest stars, having run the fastest-ever two times this season, both in Europe and both under 10.10sec.

But as individual medal hopes, they aren’t even in the league of their more illustrious compatriots, Bloemfontein student Wayde van Niekerk and US-based Anaso Jobodwana, who hails from Phakamisa township outside King William’s Town.

Van Niekerk and Jobodwana own the national records in the 400m and 200m respectively.

The SA 100m mark of 9.98, posted by Simon Magakwe at the national championships in Pretoria last year, earned him much prominence as the only South African to break the 10-second barrier.

Yet his effort ranks him joint 80th on the all-time world list.

Bruintjies and Simbine, with bests of 10.06 and 10.02 respectively, are even short of Magakwe’s mark.

Jobodwana, a fine 100m runner with a 10.10 best, has twice broken the SA 200m record this season, first going 20.06 and then lowering it to 20.04. His new mark may be 0.85sec off Usain Bolt’s world record, but his time ranks him 65th on the all-time list.

However, when Van Niekerk, who used to compete in the 100m, won in the New York Diamond League meet in 44.24, he improved to 24th on the all-time list.

To the untrained eye, 9.98 may seem more worthy than 20.04 or 44.24, but it isn’t – 89 athletes have broken 10 seconds in the 100m compared to 51 beating 20 seconds over 200m and just 10 men below 44 in the 400m.

Simbine and Bruintjies head to the World Student Games in Korea next month. They will be hard-pressed to replicate Jobodwana’s success at the 2013 edition in Russia, where he became the first man to bag the 100m and 200m double since 1975.

The odds are that no South African is going to win an individual 100m medal at a major track and field competition such as a world championship or Olympics any time soon. But that’s no reason for despair.

The fact is that if Jobodwana, Simbine and Bruintjies can keep improving, all three could become sub-10 second runners. And with youngsters like US-based Ncinci Titi, another Eastern Cape runner, also on the up, SA suddenly becomes a relay contender.