BLOEMFONTEIN – Instead of showcasing the cream of South African athletics, the ASA Speed Series hit a speed wobble, thanks to some dubious times at the Bloemfontein leg on Wednesday night.
Olympic long jump silver medallist Luvo Manyonga brought some respectability to the event when he posted his second best jump ever with a top effort of 8.46m.
Manyonga’s leap is the best distance on South African soil, with the long jump phenom taking clear aim at Khotso Mokoena’s national record of 8.50m.
“I am chasing the SA record, but I didn’t get it. The last jump was an 8.72m, but I overstepped by two centimetres,” Manyonga said.
“We are pushing very hard this year and are fixing all the mistakes from last year, so we are very positive.”
Luvo Manyonga in full flight during the long jump event. Photo: Frikkie Kapp, BackpagePix
Eighteen-year-old Gift Leotlela produced the shock of the night when he beat world 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk.
No electronic times were available, but instead hand times were given, with Leotlela clocking 10.0 seconds, with Van Niekerk and Emile Erasmus posting 10.14.
Elsewhere it was raining personal bests on the night, beginning with Ruan de Vries posting a new South African 110m hurdles record, with the 31-year-old smashing his previous best by 0.36 seconds.
De Vries was clearly flabbergasted when it was announced that he had broken Lehann Fourie’s record by 0.01, with a new mark of 13.23.
“It didn’t feel that fast. I hit a few hurdles, I hit the first hurdle, so it was a fast time. It is done now and there is nothing I can do about it now,” De Vries said.
“I’m a bit shell-shocked. I don’t know what to say. I am just blessed to still be running because I am 31 years old.”
Ruan de Vries about qualifying for the world champs after posting a new SA 110m hurdles record.… https://t.co/WwIDtzYLyE
— Ockert de Villiers (@ockertde) March 8, 2017
The 100m races raised eyebrows and attracted suspicion when three relatively unknown athletes in the B-race posted Olympic qualifying times and smashed their PBs.
The wobbly Bloemfontein system showed Le Roux van Tonder, with a previous best of 10.51, clocking 10.09.
In the next race, Leotlela was eager to get his winning time, but it was not forthcoming as only hand times were released.
“It was a quick race, I wanted to run against fast guys to see where I am with my fitness. Wayde and Emile were big guys to beat,” Leotlela said.
Great show @TlotlisoL now just look after this form and you'll have a great season https://t.co/kWWLtOxdTI
— Wayde van Niekerk (@WaydeDreamer) March 8, 2017
Speaking about the shock defeat, Van Niekerk said he was still in hard training, but gave credit to Leotlela while highlighting the depth of sprinting talent in the country.
“We need to swallow that tablet and work hard for the upcoming races. We have Free State Champs this upcoming weekend,” Van Niekerk said.
“It is going to be quite a tough one, I’m going to try and triple up (100m, 200m and 400m) just to get that speed endurance back again.
“Like you can see, I still have so much more to do. I am still very raw, especially with all the travelling and the niggles.”