Cape Town — African champion Ferdinand Omanyala went slightly quicker this time, but was again unable to breach the 10-second barrier, while Leandri Geel produced a new national hammer throw record at the second Athletics SA Grand Prix at the Germiston Stadium in Johannesburg on Wednesday night.
Kenyan superstar Omanyala, whose continental record stands at a blisteringly quick 9.77 seconds, is slowly building up to the international season ahead of the world championships in August.
An outstanding performance by the reigning SA Hammer Throw Champion Leandri Geel who smashed the SA record with a winning distance of 66.11! Leandri just keeps getting better and better! Congratulations and well done to her! #Granpix2 #jointhemovement pic.twitter.com/o80U8VtYGG
— Athletics_SA (@AthleticsSA_) April 19, 2023
But considering his pedigree, he would have been slightly disappointed with his winning time of 10.05 on Wednesday night, having run 10.12 at Tuks Stadium last week.
Omanyala was a bit slow out of the blocks as Cheswill Johnson and another Kenyan, Samwel Imeta, burst to the front, with Imeta maintaining his lead over the first 50m.
But the powerful Omanyala used his strength to catch up and eventually took the honours quite comfortably, with Imeta second in 10.22 and Sibusiso Matsenjwa third in 10.33.
“I don’t know why (I couldn’t go under 10 seconds), but we are just getting deeper and deeper as we go on. So, building it up towards the (international) season, and I hope I will get it soon,” Omanyala told SuperSport TV in a trackside interview.
“You get tougher and tougher competitions as you move forward. We are on course (for the world championships), as the times are dipping every time … we are going to get our medal for Africa this year.”
In the women’s 400m hurdles, former world junior champion Zeney van der Walt was hoping to get close to Myrtle Bothma’s South African record of 53.74 seconds, having run a new personal best 50.81 in the 400m flat in Pretoria last week.
But despite pushing all the way, Van der Walt had to be satisfied with a winning time of 55.28, with Taylon Bieldt second in 56.63, while Rogail Josephs was third in 56.73.
The men’s 400m hurdles saw Sokwakhana Zazini winning in a time of 49.54.
Meanwhile, the real highlight of the event was in the women’s hammer throw, where Geel produced the heave of her life to send the metal ball flying through the Joburg air to a distance of 66.11m – the first time she has gone beyond the 66m mark.
Geel had a no-throw in her first round, and then came up with a solid effort of 63.72m to take the lead.
Algerian athlete Zahra Tatar then came up with a 63.05m effort, but Geel saved her best for last with an enormous 66.11m – improving the previous SA record of 65.80m by Phethisang Makhethe last year.
Leandri Geel is the new South African record holder in the Women's Hammer Throw with a mammoth 66.11m 👏 pic.twitter.com/mYIXx17NeA
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) April 19, 2023
“It actually feels very amazing! I wasn’t prepared … it just worked out, and I am very glad and very relieved. It feels like I want to go and sleep right now,” the 25-year-old University of Johannesburg athlete told SuperSport TV.