One giant leap for glory

National long jump champion Zinzi Chabangu (19) sprouted wings to smash her personal best in the triple-jump event at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Athletics Invitational meeting on 13 February.

The athlete said that she was very happy with her performance. “My target was 13.50m and I went 10cm beyond that,” said Chabangu.

Although still early in the season, the sport psychology student, who is also the junior national triple-jump record holder, is already making huge strides towards her goals.”My objectives before the season were simply to remain dedicated throughout training and to try and eat clean,” said Chabangu.

She also represented South Africa at the World Student Games and African Games in 2015.”Now my goal is to keep on breaking my personal bests until the end of the season,” said Chabangu.

Although she fell short in the long jump event at UJ, she said she did not favour one of the jumps above the other. She was the top-ranked junior in both disciplines last year and graduated with gold and silver (triple jump) medals at senior nationals.

Besides trying to defy gravity, Chabangu said she has a soft spot for people.”Growing up in Kagiso township, I have witnessed a lot of emotional abuse, had I not studied sport psychology, I would have enrolled for a normal psychology degree,” said Chabangu

She explained that she “always wanted to work with people and help them deal with societal and emotional problems”.

Chabangu is now focusing on the UJ Athletics Championships which will be held on 24 February. Thereafter, she will head to the first Varsity Athletics meeting in Stellenbosch on 4 March.

She concluded she would prepare for these competitions alongside her UJ jumping academy teammates and under the watchful eye of her coach Maryna van Niekerk.

Details: UJ Athletics, myfuture@uj.ac.za or 011 559 4555.

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