Carina Horn is the fastest woman in South Africa, but losing her national 100m title in Stellenbosch came as a real shock.
Horn missed out to Alyssa Conley on the line in Stellenbosch last month to end one-hundredth of a second behind her Johannesburg rival in 11.37, with Conley’s winning time 11.36.
The joint-SA record-holder alongside Evette de Klerk in 11.06, Horn had already run quicker in the heats and semi-finals (11.35 and 11.26 respectively) compared to the final, and that played a role in her performance in the decider.
“Look, it wasn’t a time that I couldn’t run, but there was a brain-freeze in the beginning as I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get there, as I did it easily in the heats,” Horn told Independent Media this week about that fateful Friday night at Coetzenburg.
“We have identified the faults and why it happened. The start was actually very good – I just think I put too much pressure on myself as I saw how easily the times were coming for me in the heats and semi-final, as I had battled during training before that too.
“So I thought that it is actually possible to run quicker. In the final, I was in front for the first 30 metres and I became too excited. I wanted to just go for it and I tensed up; I couldn’t get my strides in as they were shorter than usual, and so it was too late to get my rhythm back.
“I just needed to relax – I just wanted it too much. It became too much for me.”
But that was over a month ago, and Horn has moved on from it. There are bigger and better things on the horizon, such as the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August, and that is ultimately her main goal.
She will begin that journey on Sunday at the third Diamond League meeting in Rabat, Morocco, in what is the first ever Diamond League event on the continent.
The 27-year-old has a season’s best of 11.23 that she ran in Pretoria in March, but feels in better shape after working on her technique and not racing since the SA champs.
Horn will definitely have some serious competition in Rabat, with the second-fastest woman in history behind Florence Griffith-Joyner – 36-year-old American Carmelita Jeter (10.64) – as well as African record-holder Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria (10.79) taking part.
In fact, five of the eight athletes have personal bests of under 11 seconds, which is what Horn is aiming for this year. Perhaps running in such a strong field could push her to such quick times.
“Yes, there is a bit of excitement at the moment about what lies ahead. I’m stressing as well, but in a good way! But I’m looking forward to it – it’s going to be a big race,” she said.
“My training has been going very well. But it’s a long journey as I will be 15 hours on the plane. I’m flying to Paris, then Casablanca and from there to Rabat. If I had to go via Cairo, it would’ve been 17 hours!
“I ran in Rabat there last year, where I ran 11.31 (in coming fourth). The weather was okay, although it was much later in the evening. This time around it’s in the late afternoon, so it should be better. The sub-11-second barrier is still the plan, but we’ll see what time comes up on Sunday.”
@IndyCapeSport - Independent Media