Will Prudence Sekgodiso use Ostrava as a launch pad to global success?

Prudence Sekgodiso’s victory at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava earned her a rare South African first, becoming the first 800m star from this country to win over this distance at that meet, one of the classics on the European circuit. 

Olympic silver medallists Hezekiel Sepeng and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi never competed in the Golden Spike, which used to be part of the Golden League, the precursor to the Diamond League, but Caster Semenya did, finishing second in 2012 in 2 min 00.80 sec.

That’s considerably slower than the 1:57.16 meet record and personal best 23-year-old Sekgodiso clocked at the front of the race in Czech Republic on Tuesday night.

Semenya, who finished behind Kenyan Pamela Jelimo 13 years ago, went on to take the Olympic silver in London later that year, with her games medal later being upgraded to gold after Russian winner Mariya Savinova was disqualified for dope-cheating.

Sekgodiso will be hoping that her performance will be a harbinger of good things to come at the world championships in Tokyo in September.

Her time lifted her to second on the world list for 2025 so far, behind only Ethiopia’s 2024 Olympic silver medallist Tsige Duguma, the 2024 world indoor champion she dethroned in China in March.

Duguma went 1:56.64 in China earlier this year and in their only outdoor contest so far this year she also edged the South African at the Rabat Diamond League meeting a month ago, at 1:57.42 to 1:57.52.

It’s still early days in a long season with American and European athletes expected to hit their paces at their respective national championships in late July or early August.

That’s when the likes of Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson of Britain and her predecessor, American Athing Mu, will show the sort of form they’re in. Both are also 23 years old.

Mu has yet to run an 800m this season and Hodgkinson hasn’t competed yet.

Even so, it augurs well for Sekgodiso who has developed into a mature tactician this year. She said a few months ago that she’s aiming to run a sub-1:56 this season — and she’ll want to do that in Tokyo, preferably in the final.

And Sekgodiso won’t be the only one looking to use Ostrava as a happy launching pad.

Javelin-thrower Douw Smit achieved an 84.12m best to finish second behind Indian star Neeraj Chopra.

Jo-Ané du Plessis, Olympic silver medallist in Paris last year, and 1997 world champion Marius Corbett never competed at the Golden Spike, but Sunette Viljoen, runner up at Rio 2016 and a two-time world championship bronze medallist, did.

Viljoen’s best result in the Czech meet was the second place she earned in 2011, a few months before taking the first of her two world championship medals in Korea.

She gained her second world championship gong at Beijing 2015, the year before her games podium finish.

But Smit has a far bigger gap to close if he is thinking of causing a Japanese surprise similar to the one Du Plessis achieved at Paris 2024.

He is 15th on the world list, topped by Germany’s Julian Weber on 91.06 and Chopra on 90.23. American Curtis Thompson is third on 87.76.

But Corbett was another surprise, throwing 88.40 for his 1997 triumph, having not been beyond 84m before that.

While Sekgodiso has already secured her qualification for Tokyo, Smit has not yet achieved the 85.50m automatic standard. But given that he is currently 17th on the rankings list, he should comfortably make the final field of 36 when the qualifying window closes on August 24. 

And with Akani Simbine doing well in the 100m, Zakithi Nene shining in the 400m and the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays firing, this could be a great year for South African athletics fans.