Sprint sensation Jingqi returns to track after injuries, illness derailed her 2023

Sprint prospect Viwe Jingqi is still rebuilding her confidence after suffering illness and injury that scuppered her 2023 season.

She started last year undergoing surgery for appendicitis, but then complications set in as her body tried compensating for the abdominal scar tissue.

Jingqi is facing a huge 2024, with the African championships, Olympic Games and world junior championships all potentially on the horizon.

“The goal this year is just to get my confidence back slowly,” said the Jingqi, who celebrated her 19th birthday on Saturday winning the 150m in her season-opener at Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria at the weekend.

“To be honest, the last year did a lot to me in terms of confidence and I didn’t believe in myself that much,” explained the sprinter, who struggled with her left hamstring in the wake of the appendicitis.

She gained prominence at just 17 in 2022 when winning the sprint double at the South African age-group championships in Potchefstroom, taking the 100m in an 11.22 national under-20 record which also placed her joint seventh on the women’s all-time list. 

The 16.93sec Jingqi ran while beating the likes of Shirley Nekhubui and SA 200m champion Miranda Coetzee at the weekend was a national best time.

But she wasn’t entirely happy. “It's just that my body was not responding,” said the North West University BSc student. “I didn't have any time to do proper warm-up.

“And I don't know what happened there to be honest because I could feel the speed is there but towards the end there was nothing because I didn't do proper warm-up.”

The winner of the women’s 300m race, Zeney Geldenhuys, said she planned to focus purely on the 400m hurdles for the Paris Games.

Last year she doubled up in the hurdles and the 400m flat at the world championships in Budapest, making the semifinals of both events at the showpiece though she didn’t achieve her best times in either.

“I’m going to start my season off with 400, but I'm aiming for the hurdles at the Olympics.”

She said doing the double last year had built up confidence.

“Definitely a lot of confidence that I gained and just to see the mental barrier that I broke,” said Geldenhuys who, until she got married recently, was known as Van der Walt.

Her 400m hurdles personal best is the 54.47 she ran winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games in 2022, but she’s still targeting Myrtle Bothma’s 53.74 national mark from 1986.

“I’m definitely targeting that record this year.”