Sekgodiso and Fourie show fine form ahead of World Indoor Championships

Two record-breaking South African women are pleased with their form, with middle-distance runner Prudence Sekgodiso and hurdler Marione Fourie producing impressive performances again this week, on the eve of the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Sekgodiso, who lowered her own SA indoor 800m record to 1:59.88 in Germany last month, clocked 1:59.01 to win the women’s two-lap race at the ASA Grand Prix in Pretoria on Wednesday.

After reaching the Olympic 800m final in Paris last year, Sekgodiso was already showing good form in the early stages of the 2025 campaign, and she hoped to put up a fight for a medal at the global indoor championships in Nanjing next weekend.

“A medal will be a bonus for me. The goal is just to make it to the final… but some of the fastest girls won’t be there, so anything is possible. I just have to keep my head up and focus on the finish line,” Sekgodiso said.

Though she admitted she had been reluctant to participate on the international indoor circuit, juggling her performances overseas with her appearances on the domestic outdoor circuit, Sekgodiso’s coach Samuel Sepeng had suggested she give it a go. Now, she said, she enjoyed indoor competition more than outdoors, and she particularly favoured the shorter 200m track.

“It was my coach’s decision. I didn’t want to run indoors because I feared getting injured, but I was just like ‘let me give it a try and see what happens’. And now here I am, a national record holder,” Sekgodiso said.

Fourie hit by off-track trauma

Fourie, meanwhile, has also had a great start to the season, though she now faces trauma off the track.

The 22-year-old athlete, who lowered her own national 100m hurdles record to 12.49 last year, clocked 7.91 in Luxembourg in January, breaking the national indoor 60m hurdles record.

At the ASA Grand Prix meeting, she stormed to victory in 12.77, in her first outdoor race of the season.

It was later confirmed, however, that her coach Jaun Strydom had died just hours after her win at Pilditch, and it was unclear whether she would still compete in Nanjing.

Before the dramatic news broke, Fourie had said she was pleased with her form ahead of the World Indoor Championships.

“This gives me a lot of confidence because we didn’t know where I was standing in training, so running a time like this just shows that we’re ready for next week,” she said.