Johannesburg – Wenda Nel will get a second chance to take on the Zuzana Hejnova, the 400-hurdles world champion, when she races in the Diamond League Meeting in Paris on Saturday.
The first encounter between the South African champion and the world champion took place in Ostrava in late May and finished in dramatic fashion. Nel was leading but clipped the final hurdle and stumbled on her way to taking third in 55.45 seconds.
“I certainly will go into the race slightly more confident because I now realise that I am good enough to compete against the best and I also realise that anything can happen in a race,” said Nel.
“But I guess I will still be slightly nervous before the race, because I always am,” the Tuks/HPC athlete said.
“I am not going into the race with the idea of racing against one specific athlete. My main goal will be to run a time faster than 55 seconds. If I manage to do that and finish last, I will still be satisfied because it will prove that I am on track to have a good race at the World Championships in Beijing. A top three finish in a slower time will also make me happy.”
Nel derives her confidence from the fact that she has been training in South Africa for the last two and half weeks.
“It has been good to train with the group again and to work with my coach who helped me to sort out some little niggles in my hurdling technique, such as my technique going over the last hurdle. I also enjoyed working with the support team at the HPC again.”
Khotso Mokoena (long jump), Wayde van Niekerk (400m) and Sunette Viljoen (javelin) are the other South Africans who will be in action in Paris.
Starting next week, LJ van Zyl will be competing in three Diamond League meetings. His first race will be in Lausanne on July 9, followed by Monaco on July 17 and London on July 25. - ANA