Gift Leotlela got South Africa’s campaign at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo off to a speedy start on Saturday, blazing to a new personal best time in the 100m heats and booking a place in Sunday’s semifinal. By Karien Jonckheere
The 27-year-old has struggled with injury throughout his career, and even in the buildup to these championships, struggled with a tendon issue behind his knee. But there was no sign of that as he tore down the Tokyo track, finishing in 9.87 seconds to record the fastest time of the night – something he admitted afterwards, he wasn’t specifically targeting.
“I was just focused on executing my race and focusing on myself, and it came so I was really happy with that,” said Gift afterwards.
“It felt really good. I haven’t been putting my races together this season, so I actually put it together and everything clicked, the body was feeling good, and it was really a good run.”
Also comfortably through to the semifinals was a confident-looking Akani Simbine, who won the final heat of the night in 10.02 seconds.
“Very comfortable, very controlled. I think today was just about getting into the stadium and feeling the energy, and also controlling the race and controlling the pace of the race,” said Akani. “I think that was the whole plan – not spending too much energy today so that tomorrow I have a full tank to go into the semifinals and the final.”
Earlier in the day, the South African quartet of Gardeo Isaacs, Miranda Coetzee, Leendert Koekemoer and Zenéy van der Walt combined to set a new national and continental record in the 4x400m mixed relay. They finished third in their heat in 3 minutes 11.16 seconds to not only set the new mark, but also book a place in the final later in the evening.
“We were very happy. Our main goal was just to get into that final and running an area record is just a bonus,” said Zenéy afterwards. Speaking about his impressive leg of 44.14 seconds, 18-year-old Leendert added: “I basically just stuck to my race. I ran my own race, didn’t focus on other people and then when I executed what my style fits, it all worked out at the end.”
Just one race later, the Kenyan team eclipsed the new record in their heat, but the time didn’t stand as they were disqualified for a lane infringement.
Later in the final, Coetzee was replaced by Shirley Nekhubui in the SA team, who finished in sixth spot in a time of 3:11.89 while the United States took the gold in a championship record of 3:08.80.
