Marioné Fourie cracked the fastest season-opener of her career to date, winning her 100m hurdles race in a confidence-boosting 12.77sec at the first grand prix meet at Pilditch stadium in Pretoria on Wednesday evening.
“I’m very excited,” said Fourie, who is gearing up for the world indoor championships in Nanjing, China, that kick off next Friday.
“This gives me a lot of confidence because we didn’t know where we were standing in training. So having the fastest season’s best just shows that we are ready for next week.”
Prudence Sekgodiso, who is also heading to China, was chuffed with her performance in the 800m, where she trotted for three-quarters of the track before finally stepping on the gas to win in 1min 59.01sec, ahead of her Botswana training partner, Oratile Nowe (1:59.46).
Charne Swart was third in 2:01.57.
“I’m glad I maintained that sub-two minutes,” said Sekgodiso, who reached the women’s 800m final at the Paris Olympics last year. “It shows that there’s something heading into the world championships.”
Sekgodiso said she had been preparing for the 1,500m for the past couple of events, only to discover the event had been scrapped from the schedule.
“I’m actually shocked ... I’ve been doing long-style training, but yet I still got under two minutes. I don’t know how I did it ... I just have the natural speed in me,” added Sekgodiso, pointing out she preferred the indoor competition, which felt shorter on 200m laps, had no weather issues and a loud crowd right alongside the track.
Leandri Holtzhauzen set her fourth South African record in the women’s hammer throw, hitting 67.95m.
And Zeney Geldenhuys, Miranda Coetzee, Shirley Nekhubui and Marli Viljoen powered the women’s 4x400m team to a 3:28.30 national record, easily beating Zimbabwe by more than 45 seconds in the process.
In the shock of the night, 18-year-old Karabo Letebele won the men’s 100m, downing veteran Emile Erasmus and Kenya’s African record-holder, Ferdinand Omanyala.
Letebele clocked a 10.19 personal best to see off Erasmus, who was credited with the same time, and Omanyala (10.22).
In the men’s shot put former under-20 world champion Kyle Blignaut finished second behind Aiden Smith, who won with a heave of 20.73. Blignaut had a best of 19.08.
Jovan van Vuuren won the men’s long jump in 7.67m.
The second grand prix meet is scheduled for the University of Johannesburg stadium next Wednesday.
Marioné Fourie, Prudence Sekgodiso in good form ahead of world champs
Image: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
Marioné Fourie cracked the fastest season-opener of her career to date, winning her 100m hurdles race in a confidence-boosting 12.77sec at the first grand prix meet at Pilditch stadium in Pretoria on Wednesday evening.
“I’m very excited,” said Fourie, who is gearing up for the world indoor championships in Nanjing, China, that kick off next Friday.
“This gives me a lot of confidence because we didn’t know where we were standing in training. So having the fastest season’s best just shows that we are ready for next week.”
Prudence Sekgodiso, who is also heading to China, was chuffed with her performance in the 800m, where she trotted for three-quarters of the track before finally stepping on the gas to win in 1min 59.01sec, ahead of her Botswana training partner, Oratile Nowe (1:59.46).
Charne Swart was third in 2:01.57.
“I’m glad I maintained that sub-two minutes,” said Sekgodiso, who reached the women’s 800m final at the Paris Olympics last year. “It shows that there’s something heading into the world championships.”
Sekgodiso said she had been preparing for the 1,500m for the past couple of events, only to discover the event had been scrapped from the schedule.
“I’m actually shocked ... I’ve been doing long-style training, but yet I still got under two minutes. I don’t know how I did it ... I just have the natural speed in me,” added Sekgodiso, pointing out she preferred the indoor competition, which felt shorter on 200m laps, had no weather issues and a loud crowd right alongside the track.
Leandri Holtzhauzen set her fourth South African record in the women’s hammer throw, hitting 67.95m.
And Zeney Geldenhuys, Miranda Coetzee, Shirley Nekhubui and Marli Viljoen powered the women’s 4x400m team to a 3:28.30 national record, easily beating Zimbabwe by more than 45 seconds in the process.
In the shock of the night, 18-year-old Karabo Letebele won the men’s 100m, downing veteran Emile Erasmus and Kenya’s African record-holder, Ferdinand Omanyala.
Letebele clocked a 10.19 personal best to see off Erasmus, who was credited with the same time, and Omanyala (10.22).
In the men’s shot put former under-20 world champion Kyle Blignaut finished second behind Aiden Smith, who won with a heave of 20.73. Blignaut had a best of 19.08.
Jovan van Vuuren won the men’s long jump in 7.67m.
The second grand prix meet is scheduled for the University of Johannesburg stadium next Wednesday.
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