OPINION: On the track, in the field and on the road, SA athletics is on the rise

We would have to turn the clock back a long way to recall a weekend of South African athletics as memorable as what we experienced last week.

In Hamburg, 38-year-old Elroy Gelant shattered the national men’s marathon record, clocking 2:05:36 to break the previous mark of 2:06:33 which was set by Gert Thys in Tokyo back in 1999.

Gelant has been one of South Africa’s top distance runners for more than a decade and it’s fitting that he broke one of the longest standing records in the South African books.

Meanwhile, in China, Akani Simbine opened his international outdoor season with a dominant victory in the men’s 100m race at the first leg of the Diamond League series in China.

Simbine clocked 9.99 seconds, thumping a strong field which included African record holder Ferdinand Omanyala, Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo and American rocket Christian Coleman.

The 31-year-old athlete is the most consistent sprinter on the planet, and maybe this will be the year he finally ends his bizarre drought by picking up a medal at a major global outdoor championship.

SA Athletics Championships

Back home, despite the absence of a handful of athletes who were competing at the Diamond League meeting, those who turned out at the national track and field championships in Potchefstroom produced the best edition of the domestic showpiece in some time.

Zakithi Nene was the standout performer, clocking 44.22 seconds to win the men’s 400m final. He climbed to second place in the all-time SA rankings over the distance behind world record holder Wayde van Niekerk, who ran 43.03 at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

There was also a thrilling final in Potchefstroom in the men’s 200m event, with Sinesipho Dambile (20.11), 17-year-old Naeem Jack (20.15) and Abduraqhmaan Karriem (20.15) all qualifying for the World Championships to be held in Tokyo in September.

And fellow sprinter Gift Leotlela, who seemed to be dead and buried by a persistent injury, made a remarkable comeback, winning the men’s 100m gold medal in 9.99. While Leotlela picked up a hamstring niggle in the 200m heats, his team didn’t seem too concerned and hopefully he is able to reach the heights we know he is capable of reaching.

Other highlights

In the women’s 800m final, world indoor champion Prudence Sekgodiso (1:58.80) was pushed all the way to the line by Charne Swart-Du Plessis (1:58.98) and both athletes will turn out at the global championships in Tokyo.

There was also a magnificent medal treble by versatile thrower Colette Uys.

Uys launched a massive 18.14m heave in the women’s shot put final, falling just three centimetres short of the national record held by Ashley Erasmus (18.17m). She also won gold in the discus throw (57.94m) and silver in the hammer throw (65.53m).

If this past weekend was anything to go by, the international season is going to be just as memorable. I can’t even wait.