Long jump athlete Zarck Visser (25) will be one of South Africa’s top medal contenders at the upcoming IAAF World Athletics Championships. The Northcliff resident and Commonwealth Games silver medalist will represent his country at the championships in Beijing, China, from 22 to 30 August.
A major hip surgery earlier this year and an ankle injury sustained in Germany in June, seems to be behind him; as Visser, who competes for the University of Johannesburg (UJ), appears to be in dangerous form after leaping to a career best of 8.41m at the meeting in Germany on 4 July.
Visser is currently number one in the national, African and Commonwealth rankings and second in the world. At the end of July, he took second place at the Diamond League meeting in London. UJ senior sports manager Francois Fouché said of Visser, “He has matured quite a lot over the past two years and has a competitive temperament.”
Fouché added that other UJ athletes Ruswahl Samaai and Godfrey Mokoena could also contend in the long jump final. “According to world rankings, Visser, Samaai and Mokoena could all be medal contenders. My prediction is that at least one of them will be on the podium but anything can happen in a star-studded final.”
Visser was named UJ’s Sportsman of the Year for the last two seasons.
