All the attention now on 800m star Prudence Sekgodiso

South Africa’s focus on Monday night at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games will be on middle-distance runner Prudence Sekgodiso who is targeting a place on the podium in the women’s 800m final, as she goes in search of Team SA’s fifth medal of the Games.

Sekgodiso finished second in her 800m semi-final in 1:57.57, behind favourite for the final, Keely Hodgkinson, who completed the two-lap race in 1:56.86.

And South Africans all over will be rooting for her following the disappointment of Akani Simbine missing out on a medal, for the third time in a row at the Olympic Games, when he finished fourth in the 100m final late Sunday.

Also in action on Monday in Paris will be South Africa’s 400m sprinters Zakithi Nene (44.81) and Lythe Pillay (55.40), who won their repechage races earlier on Monday morning at the Stade de France Stadium, booking their spots in the semi-finals to be held at 7.35pm on Monday night.

Climbing

Elsewhere on Monday, in sport climbing, Mel Janse van Rensburg ended in a tie for 19th position in the men’s boulder semifinals, and he was eliminated ahead of the final.

In the women’s speed climbing seeding heats, Aniya Holder settled for 14th place in a personal best 9.12 seconds.

Drawn against world record holder Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland in the elimination round, Holder was knocked out after reaching the top in 9.36, well off the pace of her opponent who finished in 6.10.

Meanwhile, despite narrowly missing out yet again, Simbine says he hasn’t given up on chasing a medal in Paris, as he sets his sights on the podium in the 4x100m relay.

“There’s no South African that’s ever been in three Olympic finals and placed higher than me… and that’s a great thing on its own,” Simbine said.

“I might not be getting the medals and stuff, but what I’m doing is changing how sprinting is seen in South Africa and I’m motivating a lot of kids, and that is really great.”

Relay heats

After the race, Simbine switched his focus to the 4x100m relay heats to be held on Thursday morning.

He was set to be joined by 100m semifinalists Benjamin Richardson and Shaun Maswanganyi. The relay squad also had the services of rising junior stars Bradley Nkoana and Bayanda Walaza, as well as Sinesipho Dambile, and potentially even 400m world record holder Wayde van Niekerk.

Simbine was confident the in-form relay squad could challenge for a medal in the final to be held on Friday.

“We’re not done yet. We’re coming back in the relay,” he said.

“We’ve got three good guys who were in the semis… and we’ve got another shot, so we’re gonna go for it.”