It’s 12 744km from Stellenbosch, South Africa, to Nanjing in China, but Prudence Sekgadiso and Akani Simbine made the crossing seamlessly, taking their top-drawer performances at the Athletics and Cycling Education (ACE) Trust meeting at Höerskool Stellenbosch just over two weeks ago to the bigger stage at the World Indoor Championships.
Middle-distance runner Prudence Sekgodiso produced a spectacular performance yesterday (Sunday 23 March), winning gold in the women’s 800m final on the third and final day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.
Sekgodiso triumphed in 1:58.40, shattering her own South African short track record of 1:59.88 which she had set earlier this season.
The 23-year-old South African also clocked the fastest indoor time in the world this year, securing the team’s second medal of the global showpiece after Akani Simbine earned bronze in the men’s 60m final on Friday.
Both athletes had blitzed to emphatic victories over 600m and 60m respectively at the Stellenbosch meeting and had looked every inch champions in the making. After watching them in action, ACE Stellenbosch CEO, Elana Van Zyl predicted they would excel in Nanjing.
“I just had a feeling that both Akani & Prudence would medal!” Van Zyl said after hearing the news. “The gold came as a lovely surprise – she executed a brilliant race and smashed the field to became the first ACE athlete to become a world champion in a senior competition. What an inspiration!”
Africa bagged five other medals, all from Ethiopian athletes. Gudaf Tsegay was in a class of her own, taking gold in the 1500m in 3:54,86 with her teammate, Diribe Welteji winning the silver.
Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen edged out Ethiopian athlete Berihu Aregawi by the narrowest of margins in the men’s 3000m, winning by 0,16 sec in 7:46,09 while Freweyi Hailu took the women’s title in 8:37,21.
After running second to Swiss athlete, Audrey Werro, in the semi-final, Sekgodiso won the final comfortably, finishing nearly a full second ahead of Ethiopia’s Nigist Getachew, who grabbed the silver medal in 1:59.63, with Patricia Silva of Portugal taking bronze in 1:59.80.
Some athletes struggle to overcome the pressure of competing for their country on the world stage at the highest level. Sekgodiso appears to thrive, as she showed at the Paris Olympics last year.
“I almost gave up with 100m to go,” she said after racing to second place in her 800m heat in Paris. “But then I told myself that it was not just about me – I was running for my country. That gave me renewed determination and strength to race to the finish.”
And when she moved up a gear to run down the leaders in the home straight in the 800m final in Nanjing, she appeared to draw strength from a similar source.
Sekgodiso, 23, hails from Kgapane, a small town in South Africa’s Limpopo province and it was only by chance that she was able to make use of the resources and facilities necessary to build her talent as a junior into a world-class athlete.
“Our school was small and lacked athletics facilities or coaches,” Sekgodiso recalled. “But I ran one or two races and caught the eye of one of the teachers who arranged for me to transfer to the ACE Tuksport High School, where I joined up with coach Samuel Sepeng (younger brother of Hezekiel, Olympic silver medalist in the 800m).
“He taught me a lot and helped me to know what I wanted to achieve in life. That’s when I decided I wanted to conquer the world!”
Perhaps surprisingly Sekgodiso opted to sign up with the Durban-based club, Phantane, rather than one of the bigger ‘glamour’ clubs and club founder, Mdu Khumalo, was understandably over the moon at her performance.
“I was expecting something special from her, knowing how special she is, and saw how confident she was in the heats and semis. But gold in the final was a bonus!
“That’s not something we get very often in World Championships or Olympics. In recent times, I can only think of Wade van Niekerk (400m gold in Rio in 2016), Caster Semenya (800m gold in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016) and Josiah Thugwane (marathon gold in Atlanta in 1996).
“This is beyond a feeling – I get goosebumps when I think of those achievements,” Khumalo admitted. “And Prudence has now joined them.”
“I spoke to her yesterday. She is overwhelmed and running out of words. I told her ‘your legs have said it all and there is no need for words’.
“Prudence approached me last year, looking for a club to join. Of course, I was delighted that she called me about joining Phantane. I think she felt it was a club where she could fit in perfectly primarily because of our strong support for track and field.
“Unlike some clubs who focus more on the road, we support young athletes on the track and in cross-country and are now getting results from our programmes.
“I must give big credit to our sponsor, Totalsports, for believing in my vision and for supporting our club,” Khumalo concluded. “When I started with them my vision was to develop younger athletes on the track. We are now reaping the rewards of building that foundation.”
