Tshite snatches Mphahlele’s four-day-old national 1,500m indoor record

Tshepo Tshite has relieved his friend and rival Ryan Mphahlele of the South African 1,500m indoor record, stopping the clock at 3min 35.06sec at a meet in Poland on Tuesday night.

Mphahlele had claimed the 14-year-old mark when he stormed to victory in 3:36.57 in France on Friday night, but just four nights later Tshite, who switched to the 1,500m from the 800m only last year, knocked a tad more than a second-and-a-half off that.

Tshite is now ranked eighth in the world so far this year while Mphahlele is 14th.

It’s a promising start to the year by the country’s two top middle-distance stars, suggesting they might feature at the world indoor championships in Glasgow next month as well as at the Olympics in Paris later this year.

Last year the duo both dipped under the 3:33.87 outdoor mark set by Johan Fourie in 1987 to become the fastest South Africans on home soil, with Tshite winning that duel in Cape Town in 3:32.68 ahead of Mphahlele in 3:32.90.

The last barrier for them to negotiate is the national outdoor record of 3:31.93, set by Johan Cronje in Italy in 2013.

Cronje remains the only South African athlete to have won 1,500m silverware at a major meeting, taking bronze at the world championships in Moscow in 2013.