South Africa produced two champions on the first day of the African Athletics Championships in Durban with distance ace Stephen Mokoka and shot putter Jaco Engelbrecht winning their respective events.
Mokoka was made to work hard for his maiden continental title crossing the line after a 300m sprint against Kenya’s Victor Kimitei.
The South African crossed the line in a time of 28:02.97 with Kimitei reduced to second place with 28:03.18, and Namakwe Nkhasi bagging the bronze in 28:06.33.
‘’It caught me off guard (the sprint), but I am happy that I worked on that and managed to win at the end of the day,’’ Mokoka said.
‘’Normally when I run a race I finish the last kilometer in around 2:40 to 2:45 and today I went 2:35.
‘’So I am very happy with that because there is a huge improvement in my kick.’’
Mokoka became the first South African to win the 25-lap distance event which will give him some confidence in the buildup to the Rio Olympic Games in August.
‘’This will definitely boost my morale and the confidence, and I think if I can work on it, I believe I can finish even better,’’ he said.
‘’This is my first medal at the African champs, it is very important for my career, I’ve been Kenyans and Ethiopians in the race.
‘’Going in the home straight I was just pumping and trying to pull the rope because when you go into the sprint you use your arms higher.’’
Mokoka has qualified in the 5,000m, 10,000m and the Marathon for the Olympic Games but will not be participating in the latter event.
Engelbrecht produced the goods on his final attempt moving from third place to first with a heave of 20.00m to claim his first major title.
The 29-year-old finished second behind fellow South African Orazio Cremona at the 2014 championships in Marrakech, Morocco.
This time around he had the supqport of Cremona and three-time former champion Burger Lambrechts on his final throw.
‘’I’ve dubbed myself ‘Mister Silver’ because at South African championships it is silver, and at the African Games I won bronze, and a silver at African champs,’’ Engelbrecht said.
‘’I had to show some serious BMT, it is a season’s best and it is nice to hit that distance.’’
Congo’s Franck Owaka finished in second place with a best throw 18.89m with Stephen Mozia of Nigeria claiming third place with 19.84m.
The women’s 100m is set to be a hot affair with African record-holder Murielle Ahoure of Ivory Coast advanced to the final in a blistering 11.08 seconds.
Joint national record holder Carina Horn was in equally impressive form looking comfortable for the first time this year posting a season’s best of 11.14s.
Tebogo Mamathu also managed to scrape through to the women’s final after she finished fourth in her semi in a time of 11.58s.
South Africa will have three men’s sprinters in the 100m final today after national record-holder Akani Simbine, Thando Roto, and junior champion Gift Leotlela made it through the semi-finals.
Simbine coasted through in second place with a time of 10.25s with Roto also finishing his race in second place in 10.28s.
Leotlela also just made it into the final finishing third in his race by photo finish in 10.29s with two more athletes posting the same time. - Independent Media