Roto wins 100m in Spain
One of the young sprint sensations at the University of Pretoria won his first race overseas this weekend, but a few other local athletes had less success.
The Tuks athlete, Thando Roto, won the 100 metres at a meeting in Salamanca, Spain, on Saturday.
Unofficially his time of 10.15s is his best time ever and he would have qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio, but unfortunately the wind from behind (+2.6m/s) was too strong. Roto won his heat in 10.28s, which is just 0.01s slower than his former best time of 10.27s.
Roto is far from being disappointed.
“I had a good day. During my heat I could already feel that I was capable of running a fast time. It is a pity about the wind, but I guess that is what athletics is about. You can never control the wind.
“The fact that I was able to win in 10.15s is certainly a confidence booster. To be honest, qualifying for the Olympic Games is not my main focus. I believe in doing things step by step. Right now all I want to do is to run a time faster than 10.10s. If I can do that I will qualify.
“I still have two more races left in Europe. On 16 June I am racing in France and on 18 June in Belgium,” said Roto.
Tebogo Mamathu (Tuks) was fourth in the women’s 100 metres in a time of 11.53s.
* Carina Horn (Tuks/HPC) failed to qualify for the 100 metres final on Sunday at the Diamond League Meeting in Birmingham. She finished fourth in 11.57s, racing into a headwind (-3.1m/s). Only the first three athletes in every heat and the two fastest losers qualified for the final. As luck would have it, the athletes had to contend with a wind (+0.8m/s) from behind in the second heat, which meant that it was a much faster race.
Horn is returning to South Africa and will compete at the Tuks Invitational Meeting on Saturday.
* On Sunday Orazio Cremona (Tuks/HPC) finished 4th in the shotput in a meeting at Bydgoszcz, Poland.
He was very disappointed with his performance of 19.07 metres.
“It was not a great day at all. My body was not there and neither was the connection. My battle to qualify for the Olympic Games is getting harder but I am not going to give up,” said the South African champion.
Cremona will compete in Switzerland again on 14 June.
* LJ van Zyl (Tuks/HPC) has decided to withdraw from the Diamond League Meeting in Oslo on Thursday due to a slight lower back injury.
“It is nothing serious. I just don’t want to take any unnecessary risks. That is why Irma Reyneke (coach) and I decided that it would be better to rather compete in Stockholm, Sweden, on 16 June.”
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