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Testing day for Van der Walt while Reinstorf remains hungry for improvement

Roxanne MartinNewsLeave a Comment on Testing day for Van der Walt while Reinstorf remains hungry for improvement

Zeney van der Walt put her body to the ultimate test, running the 400m hurdles and 400m just over two hours apart at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Monday night. The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist first booked a place in the semifinals of the 400m hurdles by finishing fifth in her heat in a time of 55.21. Only the top four gained automatic qualification, but her time was quick enough to see her through as one of the fastest losers. Not long after Van der Walt was back on the track for the 400m semifinal, where she finished in eighth place in 51.54

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“I’m tired, but I’m happy to have been part of the semifinals of the 400m,” she said after completing her mammoth task for the day. Asked if she was still happy with the decision to double up in both events, she added: “Yes definitely. We’re using this as a stepping stone here in a year where I can challenge myself physically and mentally.”

As for what she did between the two races to recover, Van der Walt explained: “My coach had a recovery strategy just by keeping my legs cold, ice bath, and then just run-throughs.” Focus now shifts to Tuesday’s 400m hurdles semifinals. “I must go out and give it my all, because it’s all or nothing, so I’m looking forward to the race. It’s going to be tough but I’m in for that.”

Earlier in the evening, Miré Reinstorf found it tough going in pole vault qualification. The 21-year-old went into the event with a personal best of 4.15m – which she achieved on her way to winning the world junior title in 2021, but the opening height of the competition was set at 4.20m, which she failed to clear on all three attempts.

“I was prepared for it. I knew it was my PB by 5cm so I had to mentally prepare for that. So I told my coach yesterday, I actually forgot about the fact that it is my PB, I’m just going to go for it, give it my all,” said Reinstorf. “I really think I did, I put in a lot of work and I think there wasn’t anything else I could do and it was very close… but it was a very good experience and I think this just motivates me to work harder so that I can qualify for the next championships.”

Watch All Our Athlete Interviews!

Our team on the ground at Budapest have been interviewing all South African athletes after their respective events. To get an inside view into strategy and their thoughts on their performances, click the button below to see for yourself what it takes to compete on a world stage!



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Watch Day Three's Highlights!

Agony for Simbine while Van Niekerk secures semifinal spot

Roxanne MartinNewsLeave a Comment on Agony for Simbine while Van Niekerk secures semifinal spot

There was more major championship heartbreak for Akani Simbine after he was disqualified from the 100m semifinals at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday for a false start.

All our World Championship coverage is proudly fuelled by PUMA South Africa.

“I’m disappointed. I’ve never false started on the circuit, never false started at a championship, so I’m just very disappointed,” said a devastated Simbine. “I just know that I moved when the gun said go, because I’m generally a slow starter. But it is what it is.”

In Simbine’s absence in the evening final, it was Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo who brought glory to Southern Africa. The 20-year-old star stormed to a silver medal in a national record time of 9.88 behind American Noah Lyles who took gold in 9.83.

Earlier in the day Wayde van Niekerk cruised to victory in his opening 400m heat in a time of 44.57 to qualify for the semifinals. Zakithi Nene made a blunder at the end of his race to allow two athletes in front of him at the finish to deny him automatic qualification. His time of 44.88 was enough to see him safely through to the semifinals as one of the fastest losers, however.

Speaking after the race, Van Niekerk said: “The heats and the semifinals are about surviving so I had to read my competitors and gauge off of them. That’s what I did in the heats and I think it should be a similar strategy in the semis and then in the final we’ll give it what we’ve got left.”

Nene reckoned he would learn from his mistakes, saying: “I judged the race well to about 300 or 320m, and I thought the race was over then before it was even over. So that’s on me, poor judgement of the race but I’ll fix it in the semi.”

Also through to the women’s 400m semifinals was Zeney van der Walt, who is doubling up at these championships – also competing in the 400m hurdles. The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist finished third in her 400m heat in 51.76 to book a spot in Monday’s semifinals. She’ll also be contesting the 400m hurdles heats on Monday, with just over two hours to recover between the two races.

“It feels really great, it feels amazing to advance to the semifinals and I’m very excited,” said Van der Walt. “My coach and I decided to do both events this year to take the challenge and to see how my body can manage it and to use it as a stepping stone here.”

Watch All Our Athlete Interviews!

Our team on the ground at Budapest have been interviewing all South African athletes after their respective events. To get an inside view into strategy and their thoughts on their performances, click the button below to see for yourself what it takes to compete on a world stage!



Watch Athlete INTERVIEWS


Watch Day Two's Highlights

Simbine and Tshite secure semifinal spots while throwers fall short

Roxanne MartinNewsLeave a Comment on Simbine and Tshite secure semifinal spots while throwers fall short

Akani Simbine got his World Championships campaign off to a speedy start in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday night, winning his 100m heat in a time of 9.97 seconds. The two-time Olympic finalist is bidding to break his major championship medal drought and become the first African athlete to claim the world title.

All our World Championship coverage is proudly fuelled by PUMA South Africa.

Fellow South African Benjamin Richardson just missed out on reaching the semifinals by a few thousandths of a second. Only the top three in each heat and the three fastest losers progressed. The 19-year-old finished fourth in his heat in 10.17 but two other athletes, Nigerian Usheoritse Itsekiri and Iran’s Hassan Taftian also recorded times of 10.17. When taking the thousands of a second into account, it was Itsekiri who progressed.

“I’m really happy to get that first run out the way, get the win out the way, and just feeling the track,” said Simbine afterwards. “It’s my first time inside the stadium today. Just running and winning and trusting my running pattern, and trusting how I race, and trusting the shape that I’m in, you know it’s paying off.” 

Speaking about South Africa’s chances in the 4x100m relay, Simbine added: “The relay really looks good, everybody must just stay healthy. Benji [Richardson] is young, you know he’s got a good career ahead, he’s going to have a good career like this. I’m looking forward to the relay, looking forward to fighting for the medal that’s also been missing for the longest time, so we shall see.”

Earlier in the evening Tshepo Tshite qualified for the semifinals of the 1500m after finishing second in the slowest heat of the night in 3:46.79. While Ryan Mphahlele ran a much quicker time of 3:39.16 in his heat to finish 10th, new World Athletics rules for the longer distances meant he missed out as only the top six in each heat progressed to the next round.

“The race was tactical but remember, this year the criteria have changed. It’s not all about how fast you run, it’s all about making sure that you’re in the top six. I think that was the reason the race was tactical,” explained Tshite.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s throwers struggled on Saturday with Olympic finalist Kyle Blignaut (18.82m) and Burger Lamprechts (19.52m) failing to qualify for the shot put final while Victor Hogan fell short in discus qualification, his 61.80m effort seeing him finishing in 27th place.

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From Netballer to Track Star: Miranda Coetzee’s Remarkable Journey to World Championships

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on From Netballer to Track Star: Miranda Coetzee’s Remarkable Journey to World Championships

Just four years ago, Miranda Coetzee could never have wrapped her head around the fact that she’d be an international track athlete.

It was only in 2019 that the former netballer decided to take athletics seriously and started training in earnest. Since then, Coetzee has been lowering her personal best times with regularity and is now on the cusp of competing at her second World Athletics Championships.

“To be honest, I never thought that I would make the national team or I would be going to world champs and all that, so I’m very happy with where I am right now,” she admitted.

The PUMA athlete made a statement earlier this year by claiming a 200-400m double at the South African Championships in Potchefstroom – both in personal best times. Since then she’s dipped under the 51-second mark over 400m for the first time this June in Spain. The 25-year-old reckons racing in Europe over the last few months has been an excellent learning experience.

“One thing that I never did before was analysing my races, so having a lot of races in Europe actually helps you see the mistakes that you made in previous races and you’re able to correct them in the next race,” she explained.

“Also being able to compete with people that I will be competing with at world champs gave me a heads up to see where I am. I’m also happy that my times improved a lot.”

Coetzee made her World Championships debut in Oregon last year where she finished 41st overall in the 400m heats after running a time of 53.30. She’ll certainly be looking to improve on that when this year’s championships kick off on Saturday in Budapest.

“Last year I was actually new to everything so everything was a learning experience for me. I was a bit scared, and I wasn’t strong mentally. I’ve learnt to be strong and take each race or competition as it comes, I believe in myself more than I did last year, so I really hope I make a difference this year.”

The World Athletics Championships take place in Budapest from 19-27 August with the women’s 400m heats set to be contested on Sunday morning.

A Marathon a Day…

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on A Marathon a Day…

Between September 2019 and July 2021, Rupert van Vuuren averaged a marathon a day for 658 consecutive days, in a remarkable running challenge that saw him cover some 28,000 kilometres as he ran for a cause close to his heart. Of course, he had to overcome numerous challenges along the way, from coping with injuries and exhaustion, and replacing multiple pairs of shoes, to rushing around to join club runs and balancing running with work and time with the family. And even though he didn’t get to his target of 1000 consecutive marathon, this story is well worth the read. – By Sean Falconer