Luvo Manyonga holds off on Pretoria return as he gushes about long jump

Luvo Manyonga has put his return to competition in Pretoria on hold because of a hamstring niggle, but the former world champion who recently completed his second doping offence ban spoke on Tuesday about his love for long-jumping.

Manyonga, speaking at the press conference before the first Athletics South Africa grand prix meet at Pilditch Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, said he felt free when flying through the air.

“For me, jumping, it feels like freedom,” said the 34-year-old who won the 2017 world title, 2016 Olympic silver and 2018 Commonwealth Games. “Those seconds when I’m in the air, I feel free.

“Jumping is a nice thing for me ... It’s [making] people smile. Entertaining is the best thing for me.”

Manyonga, who served a four-year ban for whereabouts violations during the Covid-19 pandemic, said he was unable to compete at Pilditch after picking up a hamstring niggle during his first competition back at Stellenbosch recently.

He jumped 7.31m, a far cry from his 8.65m South African record, and he declined to make any promises about his athletics future, pointing out he didn’t have a proper coach or an agent.

One of the Belgian team training in Stellenbosch was helping him.

“Just doing it one day at a time and just doing it for the love of the sport. We’re working on the plan of just trying to be fit and healthy and also the age.”

Manyonga, who was also banned in 2012 after testing positive for tik, told TimesLIVE he was keen to get to the world championships in Tokyo in September.

The automatic qualifying standard is 8.27m.

The men’s long-jump competition had been touted as one of the main events, with Manyonga scheduled to take on Olympian Jovan van Vuuren. 

Van Vuuren said the last time he jumped against Manyonga his rival achieved the 8.65 record, about a metre further than his best on the day.

But there is still star quality with Prudence Sekgodiso in the women’s 1,500m, Marioné Fourie in the women’s 100m hurdles and Botswana’s 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo competing in the 400m.

Sekgodiso, who has been performing well in the indoor season so far, would like to get silverware at the world championships — indoor and outdoor.

Fourie is looking to put behind her the disappointment of the Paris Olympics where she made the semifinals.

She is looking to make the finals at the indoor and outdoor world championships.

The indoor showpiece will be staged in Nanjing, China, from March 21 to 23.