Blast from the past: Potgieter hurdles his way into the record books

Today in SA sports history: April 20

1957 — Gert Potgieter breaks the world 440-yard (402m) hurdles record as he clocks 50.7 sec at the national championships in Queenstown. At the time Potgieter didn’t know he’d broken the mark, admitting afterwards he had no idea what the world record was. The official mark for the distance was 51.3, held by Soviet athlete Yuriy Lituyev. But his world record over the official distance of 400 metres — or 437 yards and one foot — hurdles was 50.4.