Middle-distance runner Prudence Sekgodiso after winning the 800m race at the recent Diamond League meeting in Marrakech. Picture: Fadel Senna/AFP
In terms of women’s middle-distance running, South Africa was spoiled by Caster Semenya.
Her achievements on the global circuit were so phenomenal that Semenya is widely considered the greatest track athlete this country has produced.
She was so good that when she retired, it seemed inevitable it would take decades – if ever – for a middle-distance woman to challenge her national records.
Fortunately, we haven’t had to wait long at all for a potential successor to emerge. A little more than a year after Semenya was forced into retirement by international gender rules, Prudence Sekgodiso looks ready to follow in her shoes.
We can’t get too carried away, but Sekgodiso’s progress over the last few years has been promising, and her breakthrough 2024 season has proved she’s the real deal.
Halfway through the year, she has already won two Diamond League meetings and she’s the third fastest athlete in the world this season over the 800m distance with a personal best time of 1:57.26.
But while she has made a real impact, particularly over the last month, the 22-year-old athlete will probably have to go faster if she wants to earn an Olympic medal in Paris this year. At the last two editions of the Games, sub-1:57 times have been required to step on the podium.
What she has proved is that she can beat world-class fields, and in both Diamond League races she has won – in Marrakech and Oslo – she has produced powerful performances.
The question is whether she can maintain her form all the way through to the Olympics in August, having already competed well on the domestic circuit this season before heading overseas.
She has proved she can shine under pressure, after securing bronze at the African Championships in Mauritius two years ago, but the challenge of competing at the Olympic Games will be a new test for the rising star.
Sekgodiso still has a lot of work to do to emulate even a portion of what Semenya achieved, but if she keeps progressing the way she has, it seems the sky is the limit.
Already she has her sights set on Semenya’s national 1 500m record (3:59.92) and Elana Meyer’s 3 000m mark (8:32.00), both of which she has the ability to break over the next couple of years.
Over her specialist 800m distance, however, we’ll have to wait and see if she’s good enough to challenge Semenya’s SA best of 1:54.25.
We know Sekgodiso is good. She has already put a lot of questions to bed, suppressing fears that Semenya’s records could stand forever.
Even if she doesn’t get a medal in Paris, which remains unlikely against the world’s best once they’re hitting their straps, she has the potential to become a legend of South African athletics.
And on the road to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, we can expect records to tumble.
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