Bruintjies not happy after men’s 4x100m relay team settle for silver at Champs

Henricho Bruintjies was clearly not impressed with some of his compatriots who were missing on Friday, though he was delighted with the SA team’s result, despite falling short in defence of their men’s 4x100m relay title at the African Athletics Championships in Mauritius.

National 100m record holder Akani Simbine, who took second place in the short sprint final the day before, and national 200m record holder Clarence Munyai were both absent from the line-up in the relay final.

And while it was suggested injury niggles had kept Simbine and Munyai from the race, there seemed to be growing animosity between the country’s fastest men.

In their absence, Bruintjies was joined by long jumper Cheswill Johnson, hurdler Antonio Alkana and junior athlete Benjamin Richardson, as they grabbed the silver medal in 39.79 seconds.

With Kenya winning gold in 39.28, however, the SA squad will need to be at full strength if they want to be more competitive in the sprint relay at this year’s World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

“I always feel like if I can put my country first, even if other guys don’t want to play their part, we can pull it off, and that’s what we did today,” said Bruintjies, who had earned individual 100m bronze on Thursday.

In other events on Friday, the national women’s 4x100m relay ream also secured silver in 44.87.

Rising star Miranda Coetzee won gold in the women’s 400m final in 51.82, Mire Reinstorf won the women’s pole vault final (3.80m) and Nicole Janse van Rensburg grabbed bronze (3.70m).

After three days of competition at the five-day African Championships, South Africa had raked in a total of 19 medals (five gold, seven silver and seven bronze).