Henricho Bruintjies (South African co-record holder in the 100m) has decided to compete at the IAAF World Indoor Championships because he cannot resist a new challenge

His first race was in Germany, where he lined up in Dusseldorf in the 60m race. This was the first time he competed indoors and he qualified for the final with a third place in his heat. In the final he finished fourth after Kim Collins (West Indies), Joe Morris (USA) and Julian Reus (Germany).

It was, however, Bruintjies’s time in Dusseldorf (6.65 seconds) which indicated that he was completely at home in this format of athletics. He will also be in action on 13 February in Berlin.

He will then return to South Africa to do his final preparation for the Championships in Portland, USA (17-20 March).

“The reason why I decided to make my indoor debut is that it is important to race against the top guys as often as possible. It is the only way to really improve as a sprinter.

“Competing at the World Indoors will also give me an opportunity to represent South Africa, which is always very special,” said Bruintjies, who set a new national mark in the men’s 100m in Switzerland in July last year when he won his heat at the Resisprint Meeting in a time of 9.97s.

Some people consider the 60m sprint to be a different race tactically compared to the 100m.

“At this stage I am not in a position to give an honest opinion, but I don’t think running a 60m sprint can be very different from running the100 metres. I think it will be important to get a good start in the shorter race, but for the rest it is merely a matter of running as fast as you can if you want to be the first to finish.

“My coach (Hennie Kriel) and I have focussed on getting a good start during the past few weeks.”

The week before he went to Europe Bruintjies competed in a 60m sprint at a league meeting at the Pilditch stadion in Pretoria. He won in a time of 6.69 seconds.

Kriel (coach at Tuks/HPC) sees Bruintjies participation at the indoor meetings as part of a bigger plan to ensure that he becomes a truly world-class sprinter.

“To be a top sprinter an athlete needs to be able to adapt to various challenges and circumstances. Competing indoors is a new challenge for Henricho. He should realize that, no matter what happens during the next two weeks at the indoor meetings, when the final results are released there will not be an extra column for athletes’ excuses.”

Kriel said his main goal for the season is to help Bruintjies to consistently run times faster than 10.00 seconds in the 100 metres.

“That is what it takes to be a force in international sprinting. The ultimate for Henricho would be to run 9.90s in the Olympic final in Rio, because if he could do that, he would have a good chance to win a medal,” said Kriel.