Rikenette Steenkamp of South Africa celebrates winning the Women's 100m Hurdles during day two of the Athletics World Cup London at the London Stadium on July 15, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
She won’t be leading the charge at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, but Rikenette Steenkamp hopes she can take advantage of a golden opportunity by making further strides in her topsy turvy career.
Despite battling with injuries, particularly with a troublesome hamstring which has seemingly kept her off the track more often than it has allowed her on it, Steenkamp has done enough over the last decade to leave her mark.
The 26-year-old athlete first made waves as a teenager, while attending Hoërskool Menlopark in Pretoria, when she reached the semifinals in the 100m hurdles event at the 2009 IAAF World Youth Championships in Bressanone.
After leaving school, Steenkamp opted to study sports science at the University of Pretoria, and she had since established herself as one of the leading athletes at Tuks, which had become the country’s biggest feeder pool for elite athletes in Olympic codes.
Though she won the African title in Morocco in 2014, and went on to secure the continental silver medal in Asaba last year, Steenkamp’s injury troubles repeatedly affected her potential campaigns at major international championships in recent years.
Having spent enough time on the track to flaunt her raw speed and choppy technique, however, she had clocked some fast times.
Making a career breakthrough in June 2017, Steenkamp completed the 100m race over the barriers in 12.99 seconds, becoming only the second South African woman to dip below 13 seconds.
Under the guidance of sprint coach Hennie Kriel, she went on to stop the clock in 12.91 in June last year, clipping 0.03 off the 20-year-old national record held by Corien Botha.
Again showcasing her tremendous ability, Steenkamp went even quicker in La Chaux de Fonds a few weeks later, chopping her new SA mark to 12.81.
Though she still had a lot of work to do to close the gap on the fastest women on the international circuit, with more than 30 athletes having dipped under 12.80 this season, Steenkamp had done well to make huge strides in her specialist discipline at domestic level.
“In this game you’ve got to make the most of every opportunity,” she said this week.
“The 100m hurdles is one of the most unpredictable events. Anything can happen at any moment, which is what motivates me.”
Though she had struggled to find her best form this season, having dealt with typical injury niggles, Steenkamp set a season’s best of 13.02 in Andujar a few weeks ago.
Her time was 0.04 outside the qualifying standard for the World Championships, but she did enough to receive an entry from the International Association of Athletics Federations after climbing to 74th place in the world rankings in her specialist discipline.
Set to become the first SA woman to compete in the high hurdles event at the global showpiece next week, she was looking forward to the experience.
“I believe the atmosphere in Doha, getting to run in front of thousands of passionate spectators, is going to inspire me to run fast times,” she said.
“I know I am capable of dipping under 13 seconds.”
Requiring a fine set of skills, Steenkamp admitted the 100m hurdles was one of the toughest events in track and field.
It was that very challenge, however, which kept drawing her back, as she continued to fight off injuries in an attempt to gain momentum in her athletics career.
“It is a race of absolute precision, and the challenge is that there are 10 hurdles between you and the finish line, and there is no margin for error.
“That mere moment you lose focus and touch a hurdle could be it, race over.
But then again, that is what I love about hurdling.”
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