Shot put star Kyle Blignaut is waiting for new Italian style to pay dividends

Kyle Blignaut won his first competition back in South Africa on Thursday, having relocated to Italy late last year after the death of his long-time coach Pierre Blignaut.

He wasn’t enamoured with his winning throw of 20.10m in the shot put at the first meet of the Athletics South Africa grand prix series in Potchefstroom, but he was confident he was on the right track training under the coach who has lifted former South African Zane Weir to new heights.

“I felt horrible,” said Blignaut, who ended sixth at the Tokyo Olympics. “I didn’t feel great. I landed from Europe a couple of days ago so my body was feeling unbalanced.”

Blignaut, who had spent his whole career in Krugersdorp training under the astute Blignaut, who died of cancer last year, switched to Italy, living close to Venice.

“I always wanted to be with him [Blignaut] til the end. I never wanted to be coached by somebody else. But we had a serious chat before he went to the hospital for the last time and we talked about coaching and what happens if he passes away.”

Blignaut said he and his late coach, had agreed he should join the Italian squad coached by Paolo Dal Soglio.

“I’m living there full-time now. We just came back for a training camp in South Africa, so I came in a couple of weeks early to compete in the grand prix series and the [Central Gauteng] championships to qualify for nationals.

“It’s going really well. Today it didn’t look that great. I started very inconsistently and I was all over the place, but I think some time here and then I’ll find that rhythm again ... I think I should do well at least once.”

Blignaut said he had been learning a new approach to the sport.

“It’s completely different, I’m working on a lot of new technical things. Stuff I’ve been doing for the past 15 years of my life I have to revisualise. But I’m working hard on that.

“I think once I find all of that I should do really well. Both the other athletes are third and fourth in the world so they’re doing something right and I’m just following blindly at the moment, just doing what he says and I think that should yield some results later in the season.”

Blignaut’s performance was on a par with most of his compatriots on the night. Viwe Jingqi won the women’s 200m in 23.55 and Benjamin Richardson the men’s 200m in 20.89.

Both would have liked faster times.

Zeney Geldenhuys won the women’s 400m in 51.80, exactly a second faster than her best in that event, though she’ll focus on her favourite 400m hurdles in the build-up to the Paris Olympics.

The only Olympic qualifier on the night came from Qatari Ismail Doudai Abakar, who ran 48.68 in the men’s 400m hurdles.

The second meet of the series is scheduled for the Tuks track in Pretoria on Monday.