Carina Horn has done it! The 29-year-old is officially the fastest 100m female sprinter in South Africa after she broke the 11.06-second mark she shared with Evette de Klerk at the SA championships in Pretoria on Thursday.
Horn clocked 11.03 seconds in the 100m semi-final at the Tuks Stadium, and is now the sole holder of the record – having matched De Klerk’s 11.06 from April 1990 in Madrid in July 2015.
For a number of years Horn threatened to beat De Klerk’s time, but to no avail. Having finally made the breakthrough by equalling the record in Spain, she hasn’t quite been able to go further than that.
Horn had hoped to make the 2016 Rio Olympics final, but went out in the semis with a time of 11.20.
At last year’s world championships in London, Horn went out at the same stage with a time of 11.26, and was frustrated by the fact that she knew she could go faster.
. @Carinahorn has broken the SA women's 100m record, winning her semifinal in 11.03. Can she go even faster in tomorrow's final? Great performance! #topuptuks
— Athletics_SA (@AthleticsSA_) March 15, 2018
But in a perfect boost ahead of the Commonwealth Games, Horn sped to victory on the Blue Mondo track on Thursday.
Now the next goal will be the final on Friday. Will Horn break through the magical sub-11 seconds barrier?
@ashfakmohamed