Breaking barriers: Sprint sensation Viwe Jingqi is setting the track alight

There is no shortage of talent in South African athletics, but once in a while, track and field is given an extra bit of a shake by someone whose immense potential rattles the foundations of the sport.

And while we have had a seemingly endless conveyor belt of young sprinters tearing up the track in recent years, Viwe Jingqi is one-of-a-kind: a shining diamond among glowing gems.

Though records have tumbled in senior men’s and women’s sprint events in recent years, and in the junior men’s division, we haven’t seen quite the same breakthrough among junior women in the 100m and 200m. Talent has been unearthed, for sure, but we haven’t seen any real world beaters. Until now.

Setting new standards

Jingqi is the kind of athlete who gives you goosebumps when she enters the blocks, and her potential is evident by just how long the records she is breaking have stood.

The 17-year-old speedster clocked 11.53 at the Gauteng North provincial championships last month, cracking the 39-year-old SA youth (U-18) girls 100m mark of 11.54 which had been set by Mari-Lise Furstenburg back in 1983.

And in Potchefstroom this week, she broke her own national record in every round of her specialist event at the SA U-16, U-18 and U-20 Championships, ultimately bringing the mark down to 11.22 in the final – one of the most phenomenal performances in the history of South African women’s sprinting, and perhaps the best we’ve seen in decades.

Running faster than any South African junior has ever run, Jingqe’s time also broke the SA U-20 100m record of 11.25 which was set by Marcel Winkler in Pretoria in 1989.

The prodigious young athlete went on to win the 200m final in her age group in 23.03, slicing 0.27 off the national youth record which had been held by Evette de Klerk for 40 years.

Based in Pretoria, which has proved itself as a successful breeding ground for young sprinters – through the backing of Tuks High School, the University of Pretoria and the High Performance Centre – Jingqe couldn’t be in a better environment to nurture her incredible talent under the guidance of SA relay coach Paul Gorries.

Breaking new boundaries, we can only imagine how much faster she can go, but there is no doubt Jingqi can run even quicker than she already has as she continues to set the track alight.