Some of South Africa’s top track and field athletes were missing from the SA Senior Championships in Stellenbosch which concluded in Stellenbosch on Saturday.
Those who attended were superb, however, and they produced some memorable results.
Sinesipho Dambile
One of South Africa’s fastest men, Dambile delivered perhaps the best performance of the domestic showpiece.
The defending champion, who reached the final at the World Championships last year, stormed to a convincing victory in the men’s 200m event in 20.02 seconds.
Dambile forms part of a phenomenal training group in Pretoria (also including Gift Leotlela and Bayanda Walaza) who look set to take on the world, and after narrowly missing the 20-second barrier in cold and wet conditions in only his second race of the year, we’ll wait for the global circuit to see him at his best.
He looks ready to break new ground.
Marione Fourie
It feels a bit silly to include Fourie in this list because she arrived, she did her job and she went home. There were no surprises or breakthrough results to make her stand out.
But that’s why she makes the list. She’s so good we just expect her to deliver. And she always does.
Fourie, the national record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles, had no trouble winning gold in her specialist event in 12.69, finishing well clear of rising junior star Tumi Ramokgopa who earned the silver medal.
She came, she saw, she conquered. And next year she will do it again.
Marione Fourie is phenomenal.
Tayla Kavanagh
In the absence of defending champion Glenrose Xaba, Kavanagh had no competition in either the 5 000m or 10 000m finals.
Over the shorter distance, she stormed to victory in 14:58.52, taking an easy win. And two days later she lapped everyone in the 10 000m final, securing victory in 32:05.59 to secure a dominant double.
In the 5 000m event, the 24-year-old athlete climbed to second place in the all-time national rankings (only SA record holder Elana Meyer has run faster) and she rose to fifth spot in the all-time SA list over 10 000m.
We’ve been searching for someone who can challenge Xaba at her best. We have now found her.
Welcome to the show, Tayla Kavanagh.
Maxime Chaumeton
Wonderful, confusing and bizarre. The men’s 5 000m race was all these things, and more.
Pre-race favourite Maxime Chaumeton was expected to have things all his own way, and he did, but he also did not.
Chaumeton spent most of the race glancing about, getting the crowd on their feet and looking rather bored.
Then, strangely, he stepped off the track with just 1 000m left in the race, opening the door for experienced athlete Jerry Motsau to take gold in a decent time of 13:36.10.
After the race, Chaumeton said he wanted to support the national championships, but he ran in silent protest due to political issues in the sport at both provincial and national level.
He’s an eccentric athlete but he stands his ground, and when things need to be said, Chaumeton says them.
But he doesn’t make statements with his words. He uses his legs.
Luvo Manyonga
Making one of the most spectacular comebacks in the history of South African sport, Luvo Manyonga flaunted his immense talent and experience to win the men’s long jump title.
A former world champion and Olympic silver medallist, Manyonga bounced back last year after serving his second career ban for taking recreational drugs.
And while his comeback hasn’t seen him producing the sort of results we saw from him a decade ago, the 35-year-old athlete won his first SA title in seven years, landing at 8.04m.
Everybody loves Luvo, and we’re so glad to see him getting back to something near his best.
He’s a fighter and an inspirational superstar.
