Personal best signals comeback for shot put giant Kyle Blignaut

Multiple national records have fallen in the early stages of the 2024 season, and a growing list of athletes have qualified for the Olympic Games, but one of the most promising performances thus far has been achieved by an athlete who hasn’t broken a record and still hasn’t claimed his spot for the Paris showpiece in August.

In 2018, Kyle Blignaut established himself as one of South Africa’s most talented track and field athletes, launching a national junior shot put record of 22.07 metres to win gold at the World Athletics U-20 Championships in Finland.

Transition to senior level

And three years later he proved he had adjusted well to the senior shot (the implement is 1.26kg heavier for seniors than juniors) when he set a personal best of 21.21m in Potchefstroom before taking sixth place at the Tokyo Olympics, at the age of 21.

Since then he had struggled to find the same sort of form, however, and he had not sent the shot sailing beyond 21 metres since the 2021 season – until he signalled his comeback on Wednesday night.

Following the death of his long-time coach Pierre Blignaut late last year after a lengthy illness, which had a significant impact on 24-year-old Blignaut, the shot put giant left for Italy to join a new training group, and it seems the decision is paying off.

Personal best

Competing in Modena, Italy on Wednesday evening, Blignaut threw 21.26m to take third place at the Frate 150 meeting. Local favourite Leonardo Fabbri won with a massive 22.88m heave and SA-born Italian Zane Weir finished second (21.93m).

Adding five centimetres to his three-year-old personal best, it was a big breakthrough for Blignaut, and it looks like he is back on the rise.

Blignaut was 24cm short of the automatic Olympic qualifying standard (21.50m) but his result boosted him up the rankings.

With only 13 athletes having qualified, and 32 spots available at the Paris Games, Blignaut has positioned himself well, lying in 27th position in his specialist discipline.

There are still two months to go until the qualifying window closes, and there could still be multiple shakeups in the ranking lists, which means Blignaut might have to throw further if he wants to stay in the top 32 in order to turn out in the French capital.

But his latest performance is a real indicator that he still has the ability to reach his full potential. And there’s little doubt he can go a lot further.