Horn and Manyona go bigger and faster

Another two national indoor track and field records were broken on Sunday, with long jumper Luvo Manyonga and sprinter Carina Horn flaunting their spectacular form in the build-up to the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham next month.

Competing at a European Indoor Permit meeting in Metz, Manyonga secured victory by launching a leap of 8.40m with his final attempt, adding eight centimetres to his own national record which had been set earlier in the week.

He also bettered Ghanaian-born athlete Ignisious Gaisah’s 12-year-old continental mark of 8.36m, achieving a new African indoor record.

Horn, meanwhile, clipped 0.01 off the SA women’s 60m record which she had clocked two days earlier, taking second place in the short dash in 7.09.

Their new marks lifted the tally to a total of seven SA indoor records which fell in the space of nine days, with the country’s elite stars making significant statements ahead of the biennial global showpiece.