Faulty electronic timing system overshadows teen Leotlela's triumph over Olympic champion Van Niekerk

The electronic timing system that failed in Wayde van Niekerk’s 100m race in Bloemfontein on Wednesday night was less than a year old‚ athletics officials say.

Van Niekerk‚ the Olympic and world 400m champion‚ was beaten into second place by 18-year-old Gift Leotlela‚ who competed in the 200m at the Rio Games‚ in the main 100m race of the Athletics SA (ASA) Speed Series meet.

But organisers had to resort to hand times after the total failure of the electronic apparatus‚ which contained two timing systems each linked to separate cameras on the finish line.

A Free State Athletics official said the new system was bought less than a year ago‚ after the 2016 provincial championships where Van Niekerk ran 9.98sec in the 100m.

That feat made him the first man in history to break the three sprint barriers — 10 seconds in the 100m‚ 20 in the 200m and 44 in the 400m.

• Wayde van Niekerk stunned by junior athlete Gift Leotlela Junior athlete Gift Leotlela stunned Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk with a late burst to win the 100m in Bloemfontein, but his victory was marred by a faulty timing system.  

ASA president Aleck Skhosana said the transponder had failed.

“It is something you connect to the gun‚ so when you shoot the gun‚ the gun must hit the transponder and in that particular race the transponder did not [fire] …

“Why — because it’s a new system — we don’t know. We’ll have to find out from the company [LG]‚” he added.

“We have got two systems that are connected in case [one] fails but if the failure is in the transponder you have a problem.”

Leotlela was given a hand time of 10.0‚ while Van Niekerk and third-placed Emile Erasmus were 10.1.

But the electronic timing produced some eyebrow-raising results.

Ruan de Vries surprised himself by breaking the African 110m hurdles record by a hundredth of a second when he was clocked at 13.23sec‚ a massive improvement on his previous 13.59 best from 2013.

• Olympic champion Van Niekerk set to be unleashed in BloemfonteinWearing No.1 as his competition number‚ Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk will spring into action in the second leg of the Athletics SA (ASA) Speed Series in his home town of Bloemfontein on Wednesday night. 

The previous mark of 13.24 was set by Lehann Fourie in a Diamond League race a month after he had competed in the final of the 2012 London Olympics.

De Vries‚ 31‚ and the next two finishers‚ Junior Mkhatini and Muntingh Hamman‚ were all inside the 13.48 qualifying standard for the world championships in London in August.

None of the trio has competed at a senior world championships before.

Mkhatini and Hamman‚ both 27‚ had both seldom dipped below 14 seconds‚ with personal bests of 13.96 and 13.90 respectively‚ but on Wednesday they clocked 13.28 and 13.41.

In the 100m B race‚ winner Leroux van Tonder crossed the line in 10.09 — a massive improvement on his 10.51 previous best — and even the next two finishers in 10.12 and 10.15 made significant improvements on their personal bests‚ neither having been quicker than 10.40.

The first two were also inside the world championship qualifying standard‚ although they would have to be among the country’s top three by the end of the window period to be eligible for selection.

Akani Simbine is fastest so far this season with his 9.93 in Pretoria at the weekend‚ but 28-year-old Van Tonder’s 10.09 on Wednesday could potentially be good enough for the top three.

• Simbine does sprint double in two hoursA lightning bolt called Akani Simbine struck twice in two hours in Pretoria yesterday, running the quickest 100m on South African soil and then dipping below 20seconds in the 200m. 

Skhosana said he had been given no reason to doubt those times.

“The times were fine‚ I was told by the technical people.

“Remember‚ sprints in this country have evolved in an unbelievable way. Times have evolved. Did you think that Gift can beat Wayde in the 100m?”

Skhosana also referred to 19-year-old Clarence Munyai‚ who went 20.10 to break the SA junior 200m record.

“The sprints in this country have changed altogether. You saw Gift [tonight]‚ you saw Munyai in Pretoria this past weekend. They want to be kings.”

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport