Prinsloo qualifies for the World Student Cross Country Champs

Carmie Prinsloo qualified for the World Student Cross Country Championships by winning the 3km race at the national student trials at Tuks on Saturday.

The Tuks Speech-Language Pathology student ran a tactically brilliant race, taking the lead within the first kilometre.

"There were some good athletes in the race, which is why I decided to up the pace quite early on. I was worried that if I left things too late, I would make things difficult for myself. Keeping the race 'honest', tiring my rivals, paid off," explained the South African Students 1500m champion.

According to Prinsloo, she had a good reason to run the 3km race rather than the 10km race at the USSA Cross Country Trials over the weekend.

"The FISU World Champs takes place from 14-15 March in Italy, which is in the midst of the track and field season. The aim is to be competitive. I don't want to race to make up the numbers. I am confident that the training I do as a 1500 and 5000-metre athlete will be adequate to be competitive in a 3-kilometre cross-country race.

"The thing about cross-country racing is that you have to study the route beforehand to work out your race tactics. I usually test my rivals on the route's uphill sections, making a surge. Or when running into a steep bend."

Prinsloo also wants to make a name for herself in the 1500 metres this season. Her immediate goal is to run 4 minutes 10 seconds. Actually faster, because the qualifying time for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games is 4:08.09. She believes it is doable.

"The 1500m is one of the most challenging races because it is about endurance and speed. One of my strengths is that I run tactically astutely, and my speed is not too bad either.

"The one thing I need to work on is my ability to accelerate in the final stages of the race. My coach, Wiam Grimes, and I are working on that. One of the things we are trying to change is my stride length. It might help me to be faster."