Sunette Viljoen's coach believes she has the ability to break the world record after bettering her own African mark at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China.
Viljoen improved her continental best by nine centimetres with a second round heave of 66.47 metres to retain her world student title on Thursday.
“I'm telling you, she has the potential to break the world record,” Viljoen’s coach, Tertius Liebenberg, said on Friday.
“It may sound like big words, but it is within her reach.”
Viljoen, 28, would need to improve her career best by almost six metres to better the world record of 72.28m set by Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic in 2008.
To achieve the global standard, Liebenberg said his charge would need to stabilise her technique, and would have to consistently reach the 65m mark.
After a slow start to the season, Viljoen’s performance in China launched her to fourth place in the world rankings with a little more than a week before the start of the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Only Spotakova, with a season's best throw of 69.45m, Christina
Obergfoll of Germany, with 68.86m, and Mariya Abakumova of Russia, boasting a best of 67.98m, have thrown further than the South African this year.
Liebenberg said, while she had not been in great form early in the year, struggling to throw further than 60m, Viljoen had shown steady improvement as the season progressed.
The defence of her student title would boost her confidence ahead of the global championships.
“She felt during the European season that the big throw was lying in wait,” he said.
“This last week she has consistently been hitting between 62m and 64m and found her rhythm and timing.”
Viljoen's training partner, Justine Robbeson, who will also compete in Daegu, secured the bronze medal in Shenzhen with a best heave of 59.78m.
Liebenberg said Robbeson, the former African record holder, had been in need of strong competition, and her performance in China
would motivate her heading into the world championships. – Sapa