Junior athletes keep SA sprinting on track

The national senior team’s performance at the recent Tokyo Olympic Games might have suggested South African sprinting was on the decline, but the spectacular statement made by the SA junior squad last week suggests otherwise.

In Tokyo, the team failed to reach the podium despite lining up among the contenders in the shortest events on the track.

While Akani Simbine finished fourth in the 100m final, and all five athletes progressed to the semifinals in the men’s 100m and 200m events, the 4x100m relay team crashed out in the heats following a late change in personnel after Gift Leotlela withdrew due to injury.

It was a failure which extended beyond sprint events, with the SA squad unable to bag a track and field medal at the quadrennial Games for the first time since readmission in 1992.

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At last week’s World Athletics U-20 Championships in Nairobi, however, the SA junior team proved the future of the sport remained bright as the country targeted a turnaround in the build-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Though the junior squad’s nine-medal haul was almost certainly boosted by the absence of some nations due to Covid concerns, including the likes of the United States and Great Britain, the national U-20 relay team proved they were among the most promising sprinters on the international circuit.

Winning the final in 38.51 seconds, the quartet consisting of Mihlali Xhotyeni, Sinesipho Dambile, Letlhogonolo Moleyane and Benjamin Richardson shattered the world junior 4x100m record of 38.62 which had been held by the United States.

In individual events earlier in the week, Richardson had also secured the silver medal in the men’s 100m final, Dambile grabbed bronze in the 200m final and Matthys Nortje earned bronze in the 400m final.

“Individually we are all fast, and together we got a world record,” Richardson said after the relay victory.

“It shows South Africa is improving in the relays and the individual events, which is great.”