Lebogang Shange ready for World Championships
Judging by Lebogang Shange’s performances in international races so far this season, he is definitely not afraid of taking on the world’s best.
Lebogang Shange missed out by a mere second on equaling the South African record he set earlier this season when he finished 11th at the IAAF 20km Race Walk in La Coruna, Spain, on Saturday.
His time was one hour, 21 minutes and 51 seconds.
The competition was dominated by the athletes from China. Wang Zhan was the winner in 1:18:00, Chen Ding was second in 1:18:44 and Cai Zelin third in 1:19:45.
Judging by Shange’s performances in international races so far this season, he is surely not afraid of taking on the world’s best. In Lugano, Switzerland, he finished second and broke the SA record (1:21:50) and in Dudinska he won the IAAF Race Walk Challenge.
Before Saturday’s race, the Tuks/HPC athlete said: “Although I won’t win, the other athletes will certainly know that they have raced against me. I will be racing with an attitude of fearlessness.”
Shange’s aim was to finish the race in a time of 1 hour 20 minutes.
“If I can break 1:20 it will mean that I will be on track to walk a time of 1 hour 19 minutes at the World Championships in Beijing.”
His coach, Chris Britz said Saturday’s race was definitely Shange’s toughest international one so far because he competed against some of the best walkers. The weather conditions were quite hot and windy, which also made for tough racing.
“Our goal is for Lebogang to finish in the top ten at the World Championships in Beijing.”
His next major goal will be to break the SA 20000m record at Britain’s National Outdoor Championships in Bedford on 21 June. The record (1:24:51) was set by Stanley Valentine in 1989.
Marc Mundell (Tuks/HPC) finished 44th in the same race on Saturday in a time of 1:26:34. Anel Oosthuizen finished 20th in the women’s race in a time of 1:39:05.
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