‘My life was hell without athletics,’ says teen sprint star Viwe Jingqi

Sprinter Viwe Jingqi says she’s getting race fit after an injury-hit 2023 that tipped the North West University student into depression.

She had just switched from Tuks with her coach and other athletes when she underwent surgery for appendicitis last year.

The scar tissue caused pain and as her body tried to compensate for that, other issues cropped up, reducing her season to several 100m races, none of them outstanding.

“I don’t think anyone wants to know, there was a lot going on,” Jingqi said after winning the women’s 200m at the first Athletics South Africa grand prix meet in Potchefstroom on Thursday evening.

“I know I was dealing with a lot of depression,” she said, adding the change of environment had been a compounding factor because she always took time to adjust to new surroundings.

“But I think that if it wasn’t for the support, I actually reminded myself every day [why I was doing this]. That’s one thing that kept on pushing me.

“Athletics is like a home to me so without it my life was hell.”

The 19-year-old, who faces a massive season, with the Olympic Games and world junior championships coming up, said she felt at stages her recovery might take longer than it eventually did.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect to come back like this because last year, every time I tried to run I’d get niggles here and there and my appendix [scar] would get painful.

“But the rehab helped me a lot and I think if I didn’t go to the rehab or finish any of the things I had to do, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Jingqi wasn’t happy with her winning time of 23.55, which was slower than the 23.18 she clocked 12 days earlier.

“I’m not fully fit. OK, I’m fit outside running, but I’m not race-fit.

“The time is not something I’m happy about, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it,” she said, adding she had been hoping to deliver another low-23 effort.

“When I was warming up my coach told me there’s head wind so I guess this is one of the reasons why my time didn’t come, but ja, I don’t like blaming stuff around me.”

The wind she ran into was measured at 1.6m per second (mps), compared to the 1.8mps that had assisted her on the same track on March 2.

Jingqi said she had a firm eye on the Paris Games from July 27 to August 11.

“That’s the real plan for this year,” she beamed.

“I mean, who doesn’t want to go to the Olympics?”

She would need to improve on her 11.22 and 23.03 personal bests to achieve the automatic qualifying times for the Games, which have been set at 11.07 and 22.57.

Even getting to Paris on world rankings would require solid performances between now and the end of the qualifying window on June 30. She is ranked 293rd in the 100m on 1,108 points, while the last person currently inside the top 56 is on 1,158 points.

Jingqi is also aiming to compete at her third world under-20 championships — in Peru in August — and this time she is feeling pressured to perform.

“The pressure is too much, to be honest, but I hope I come back with any medal because who wants to go to world juniors three times and come back with nothing?”

In 2022, as a 17-year-old, she qualified for both the 100m and 200m finals, and the year before that, aged only 16, she progressed to the 200m semifinals.

“It’s my last time so I want to make it work.”