ATHLETICS NEWS - South Africa’s top female sprinter, Carina Horn (Tuks), considered reaching a semifinal at a World Championships or the Olympic Games as a significant achievement, but not anymore.
Now she sees it as having failed as she knows she is capable of doing better. Therefore on Friday when she settles down in her starting blocks to race the 60 metres sprint at the IAAF Indoor World Championships in Birmingham, her goal will be to run the final. No other outcome will make her happy.
Horn considers racing the final as a realistic goal. In France three weeks ago she proved she is in good shape when twice in just three days she managed to set a new South African indoor record. Horn first ran 7.10s and then 7.09s improving on Wendy Hartman’s record of 7.15s which stood since 1999. These two performances were just what she needed to boost her confidence.
“It has always been my goal to compete in a major final, but the statistics were sort of against me. Times of 11.15s in the 100 metres or 7.19s over 60 metres will never be good enough to qualify for the final. Now is the first time that according to the statistics I have a realistic chance to go through to the final eight,” said the Tuks sprinter.
Horn’s best time of 7.09s places her joint 8th on the IAAF indoor-rankings.
