Andreas steps into athletics spotlight
JOBURG - University of Johannesburg student Jeromy Andreas (21) has won the national elite 10km road title.
The U23 national 1 500m track champion said he was surprised to beat seasoned roadrunners to the title in Durban.
He said, “I just went there to run for fun as part of the national student team. It wasn’t my intention to win at all.”
The second-year transport management student, who has a personal best of 3:48 over 1 500m, turned on the afterburners and sprinted the last 500m to claim his first senior national title in 29:03, after winning the junior section three years ago.
He has already qualified for the world university championships in Russia in July.
He said, “My goal is to go to the 2016 Olympics and do the 5 000m or 10 000m event. Then I want to medal at the next one, possibly in the marathon.”
Although he has been likened to 10 000m record holder Hendrick Ramaala and the late Beijing Marathon winner Ian Syster, Andreas is unfazed by the comparison.
“I can do more. I’m unique in God’s eyes. We’re all different, so I can work hard and reach for higher goals.”
And work hard he does, getting up to train at 5am every morning, then attending lectures before wrapping up the day with an evening training session.
He is one of the university’s high performance athletes and his season’s highlight was winning the 3 000m in the Varsity Athletics series in front of his home crowd at the UJ Stadium.
