SA team ready to shine at World Athletics Champs

The momentum continued to build ahead of the World Athletics Championships, with the second group of South African athletes departing on Monday for the global showpiece starting in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday.

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While some athletes were already overseas, competing on the international circuit, many individuals in the team left SA shores on Friday last week and a second group stepped on a plane at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Monday.

The last six athletes namely Wayne Snyman, Sabelo Dlamini, Retshidisitswe Mlenga, Shaun Maswanganyi, Douw Smit and Elroy Gelant, will leave on Wednesday from Johannesburg after visa delays.

Wayde van Niekerk, the 400m world record holder, was among the group who left on Monday. As one of the most experienced athletes in the team, Van Niekerk will compete in the 200m event and the 4x400m relay.

Before leaving for Japan, he shared his thoughts on the potential the SA team had to break the nation's drought, with South Africa having gone eight years without picking up a medal at the World Athletics Championships.

VAN NIEKERK UPBEAT

"There's always potential, and if you look at the athletes we have now, it's nice to see it's quite a good, packed team," said Van Niekerk, a two-time former world champion in the 400m sprint.

"There are some athletes who are getting an opportunity as a breakthrough and there are some athletes who are seniors like me, trying to fight ourselves back into medal contention. And then you get our favourites like Akani (100m sprinter Akani Simbine), Zak (400m sprinter Zakithi Nene) and Jo-Ane (javelin thrower Jo-Ane du Plessis) and I think we can get some good momentum, and then we'll see. It's all about making the final and then anything is possible."

Jean Verster, the chairperson of Athletics South Africa track and field commission and the national team leader, was equally confident of the squad's medal chances.

SQUAD CHANCES

What was most pleasing for Verster was the depth that had been created in SA athletics in recent years, which he felt was not only a positive sign in terms of potential medals at the World Championships, but also in terms of the growth of the sport looking forward.

"I think our whole plan of growing the depth in our sport is very important, and this year 49 athletes are in the team for the World Championships, which is one of the biggest teams we've had in many years," Verster said. "The level at the World Championships is so high and you can't base your programme on a few athletes. You've got to create depth and we have some events where we had a lot of athletes who qualified.

"We also have a lot of young athletes who are hoping to make their mark on the world stage, so I'm confident in the project we have planned up until the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and beyond. We can only succeed if we build depth and get larger teams to qualify for the World Championships and Olympics, and hopefully then we'll get more people into finals because you can only get medals if you're in finals."

The World Athletics Championships will be held in Tokyo between 13-21 September.