He’s going to share the same track with Usain Bolt, but Friday’s Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic holds fond memories for South African 400m hurdles champion LJ van Zyl.
Double Olympic sprint champion Bolt is likely to attract all the headlines this week as he continues his build-up to the Rio Olympics, having run 10.05 in his season opener in the Cayman Islands at the weekend.
The big Jamaican is apparently battling with a hamstring issue, but is still set to run at the Mestsky Stadium in Friday. He won’t face much competition, though, as none of the other competitors in the 100m race have run under 10 seconds.
However, Van Zyl will have his hands full once again in the highly competitive 400m hurdles, following his fourth-place finish at the Diamond League meeting in Shanghai last Saturday.
The 30-year-old Tuks athlete clocked 49.13 seconds, which was a season’s best for him as he builds up his speed as he gets closer to Rio. Van Zyl started off well enough, leading the field at around the 200m mark, but as he got into the home straight, the likes of American Michael Tinsley and Poland’s Patryk Dobek started to make their move.
Van Zyl eventually ended in fourth position, with Tinsley winning in 48.90 and Dobek second in 49.01. Jeffrey Gibson of the Bahamas ran 49.11 to finish third.
“Yes, I am pleased. I really wanted to run 48-something, but the 49.13 was a season’s best time. And if I take the travelling to Shanghai into consideration, then it’s a good time,” he told Independent Media from Ostrava on Tuesday.
“The race was also very close. I lost a place or two because I dipped too early, and lost some speed as a result (towards the end).”
But the relatively strong time at this stage of the season has filled him with confidence ahead of Friday’s Golden Spike meet, and being back in Ostrava makes him feel right at home, as he equalled his SA record of 47.66 in May 2011, having first run that time in Pretoria in February that year.
He will have to get past Dobek, though, as well as American Johnny Dutch, who ran a 2016 world-leading time of 48.36 in April in Nassau, Bahamas as he beat Puerto Rican legend Javier Culson into second place.
“Patryk Dobek showed he is in form in Shanghai, and Johnny Dutch has the world-leading time this year, so we will have a fast race on Friday. And I have run fast on this track a few years ago…” Van Zyl quipped.
“I’m coming home after Ostrava and will do one more race before the African Champs (in Durban from June 22-26).”
Only one other South African will be in the Ostrava field, in the shape of distance athlete Nolene Conrad. She is attempting to qualify for the Olympics in the 3 000m steeplechase, and made great progress in breaking the SA record in the 2 000m steeplechase in a permit meeting in Rehlingen, Germany on Monday.
Conrad ran 6:34.72, but is chasing the Olympic qualifying mark of 9:45.00 in the 3 000m steeplechase. So she will be doing some speed work as she will participate in the 3 000m flat race in Ostrava.
The 30-year-old Stellenbosch-based Conrad’s season’s best in the 3 000m steeplechase is 10:38.35, and she will have to break Tebogo Masehla’s SA record of 9:54.19 by over nine seconds to make it to Rio.
* Follow @IndyCapeSport on Twitter for live updates on the Golden Spike event on Friday at 5pm.
@IndyCapeSport - Independent Media