SA relay team set sights on podium at World Athletics Championships

With opportunities running out, the national sprint relay team will be hoping to end South Africa’s medal drought at the World Athletics Championships when they line up in the men’s 4x100m final on Saturday night.

With Prudence Sekgodiso missing out on the 800m final after crashing to the track following a collision in her semifinal, marathon runners Melikhaya Frans, Simon Sibeko and Tumelo Motlagale will carry the SA team’s final hopes of a medal on Sunday’s closing day of competition.

And while they will carry an outside chance into the race, the road running trio will have to punch above their weight to put up a podium fight.

Relay contenders

The relay team, however, will enter the final among the favourites in what is expected to be a wide open race after Shaun Maswanganyi, Benjamin Richardson, Clarence Munyai and anchor athlete Akani Simbine finished second in their heat on Friday night.

The quarter clocked 37.72 seconds – just 0.07 outside the African record – and they were set to line up among the medal contenders in the final to be held at 9.40pm on Saturday.

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“We executed as a team and all ran our legs quite well,” said Munyai, the national 200m record holder.

“We came out here to qualify for the final and put a solid time out there, and we did that as a team so we’re quite happy.”

Though it remained unclear whether he would stick with the same four athletes for the final, national coach Paul Gorries has plenty of options and could make one or two changes, with the likes of Sinesipho Dambile and Luxolo Adams also in the squad.

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