ATHLETICS NEWS - The South African 400m-hurdles champion, Wenda Nel (Tuks), proved last night during the Liquid Telecom Athletics Grand Prix-meeting at Tuks that she was a quick learner when she raced to a winning time of 55.31s.
Her time is more than a second faster than her winning time two weeks ago at the Gauteng North Championships.
“The mistake I made during the provincial championships was being too conservative in my approach. After I have finished, I was not tired at all. It was as if I had run in slow-mo. I easily could have run another race. That made me realise that I can’t afford to waste time. I got to be more confident in my abilities and get the burners going earlier on during the race,” said Nel.
Her winning time at the Gauteng North Championships was 56.63s.
The Tuks-athlete is confident that she will be able to run an even faster time next week during the South African Championships.
As expected, the former world champion, Nicholas Bett (Kenya), won the men’s 400m-hurdles race. It is the second time this season he managed to dip under 49 seconds. His winning time was 48.88s.
Le Roux Hamman (Tuks) was second in a personal best time of 49.22s with LJ van Zyl (Tuks) third in 49.45s. It was the 155th time in his career that he dipped under 50 seconds. Cornel Fredericks (Tuks), who raced for the first time this season, was fourth in a respectable time of 49.63s while the world youth champion, Sokwakhana Zazini (TuksSport High School), was fifth, setting a new personal best time of 49.82s.
