Day 1 of the of the ASA Senior Track and Field Championships delivered numerous highlights at the NWU McArthur Stadium in Potchefstroom on Thursday, 30 March.
ACNW athletes, Waldouw Smit, Jo-Ane van Dyk and Valco van Wyk grabbed gold medals, Benjamin Richardson, Tamzin Thomas, Karmen Fouché, Johann Grobler took silver, whilst Ian Slinger and Arend Pretorius took bronze.
Akani Simbine and Carina Horn (both from Central Gauteng Athletics) defended their 100m titles against ACNW opposition.
The women’s 100m race was desperately tight with Tamzin Thomas just 0.06 seconds behind Horn. Horn finished in 11.52 with Thomas taking silver in 11.58 seconds. They also had to compete in cooler conditions in the late afternoon with a breeze, making conditions a bit more difficult.
Here is the schedule for Friday, 31 March:
Benjamin Richardson did enough to take silver in the men’s 100m race as he finished behind Simbine, who looked comfortable throughout the day, clocking a fastest time of 09.92 in the semi-final race.
“‘I’m happy to be running well and feeling good. I’m in a good space,” added a confident Simbine, who mentioned that he knew he would take the win.
Photos: Barco Greeff
SA superstar athlete, Wayde van Niekerk (Boland), also cruised to a win in the 400m heats yesterday with his strongest competitor, Lythe Pillay (CGA) also winning his heat.
Today the action will once again be fast and furious with a number of finals scheduled for this afternoon (Friday, 31 March).
The men’s 110m hurdles and women’s 100m hurdles events as well as the 1500m finals and men’s high jump finals will be some of the encounters to look forward to today.
ACNW (Athletics Central North West) medalists on day 1:
Women:
Javelin – Jo-Ane van Dyk (Gold) – 60.97 metres
100m – Tamzin Thomas (Silver) – 11.58 seconds
Long jump – Karmen Fouché (Silver) – 6.25 metres.
Men:
10 000m – Ian Slinger (Bronze) – 30:31.05
100m – Benjamin Richardson (Silver) – 10.45 seconds
Javelin – Waldouw Smit (Gold) – 74.59 m
Javelin – Johann Grobler (Silver) – 73.52 m
Pole Vault – Valco van Wyk (Gold) – 5.20 m
Pole Vault – Arend Pretorius (Bronze) – 4.60 m
4x400m mixed relay (silver)
