World indoor 800m champion Prudence Sekgodiso plans to race at her best at the global showpiece in Tokyo, but she’s not making any promises when it comes to medals.
At least not yet. Her first job is making the final.
The 23-year-old, one of South Africa’s seven leading medal hopes in Japan, started the season well by winning her global short-track crown in China and then converting her good form into the outdoor season with a string of top-three performances.
But in the past couple of months Sekgodiso has slipped to ninth on the world list, where all eight rivals ahead of her have run faster than the 1 min 57.16 sec personal best she clocked twice this year. And they will all be in Japan.
Of greater concern, perhaps, was that she faded sixth in her last two races in Switzerland.
“The weather was not really good, and also I had some medical issues, but now I’m fine,” said Sekgodiso.
“I had some blood issues, but I went to a doctor and got it sorted, and now I’m feeling good. I’m just trusting the process and I went back to training and everything is looking good and I’m ready to race in Tokyo.”
Her condition left her feeling tired, but she added that the travelling and the cold weather hadn’t helped. “Coming from hot weather to cold weather, it affects me a lot. The weather was really bad, it was cold, it was raining. We were running in very heavy rain.”
Early in the year Sekgodiso said she wanted to dip under 1:56.00 this season, and she will almost certainly have to if she wants to claim a medal.
The championships kick off on Saturday, though Sekgodiso swings into action only on the sixth day on Thursday.
Akani Simbine competes in the 100m on the opening weekend, Elroy Gelant in the marathon on Monday and Zakithi Nene in the 400m, with his final set for Thursday. Olympic silver medallist Jo-Ane du Plessis is scheduled to take part in the women’s javelin final next Saturday.
Sekgodiso will hopefully race for a medal in the women’s 800m final on the last Sunday of the competition, on September 21, with both the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m teams aiming to be competing for podium finishes then too.
Sekgodiso played it down when asked if she had any expectations after her triumph at the world indoor championships.
“I just don’t want to give anyone hope — or [give] the country any hope — but I’m just gonna give it my all, and the plan is just to make it to the final.”
The South African team, buoyed by winning medals in the men’s 4x100m relay and women’s javelin at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has been through three straight world championships without winning a medal.
The drought through Doha 2019, Oregon 2022 and Budapest 2023 is the longest in the country’s history. Two fourth places — courtesy of Simbine and long-jumper Luvo Manyonga in 2019 — is the best they’ve done since the heady days of six medals at London 2017.
That could change over nine days of competition in Tokyo.
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