Track queen preps for Rio

ZULULAND’S track queen Justine Palframan has had a challenging 2016 athletic season, with a lower back injury picked up earlier in the year interfering with her preparations for next month’s Rio Olympic Games.

Because of this the 22-year-old’s world ranking dropped from 32nd in the 200m to 79th.

‘Justine did not compete much this year owing to the injury, but rather focused on rehabilitation and getting back onto the track to qualify for the Olympics,’ said Justine’s dad Steve.

This she did, bouncing back from her rehab to qualify for both the 200m and 400m events.

‘We are still waiting on SASCOC to notify us what events Justine will compete in, but we hope she will be allowed to compete in both.’

Palframan competed in the African Championships earlier this year, where she finished fourth in the 200m with a time of 23.22sec and set a new SA record in the women’s 4x400m relay with Caster Semenya, Wenda Nel and Jeanelle Griesel, the team clocking 3min 28.49sec.

She is currently attending a training camp in Italy with eight other South African team-mates that also qualified for the Olympics.

‘She is in a great environment with a bunch of talented athletes such as world 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk and top sprinter Akani Simbine. The training facilities is top notch and her preparations are going to plan.’

Palframan will return to South Africa next week and train in Stellenbosch before heading to South America.

Although winning gold is the ultimate goal for any athlete at the Olympics, Justine’s realistic aspiration is to at least reach the semi-finals.

If Justine hopes to reach the semi-finals of the women’s 200m, she will need to dip under 23 seconds.

The first round of the women’s 400m will be run on Saturday, 13 August, with the first round of the 200m being run on Monday, 15 August.

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