Pretorius brothers will be each other’s biggest supporters at World Student Games
The Pretorius brothers of Pretoria both have a chance to win a medal for South Africa at the World Student Games in Taipei this week.
A few years ago Constant and Fredriech Pretorius had quite a rivalry going on the athletics track to prove who is the fastest and who could jump the furthest.
But all of that changed. This week, when the two Tuks-athletes represent South Africa at the World Student Games in Taipei, the brothers will be each other’s biggest supporters. Constant Pretorius will be competing in the 400m-hurdles and Fredriech Pretorius in the decathlon.
If nothing unforeseen happens, Constant ought to qualify for the final. According to the statistics, he is certainly South Africa’s most improved 400m-hurdler. At the end of last year, his best time was 50.0s. Now it is 49.28s. The former Commonwealth Champion, Cornel Fredericks (49.27s), is the only local athlete to have run a faster time so far this season.
Constant is confident of at least setting another personal best in Taipei. The goal he set himself for this season is to see how close he can get to dipping under 49 seconds which is the benchmark in international athletics.
While he was still a junior athlete, he had all the makings to become a true champion, but after he finished school, he sort of faded away when he went to study and train in the United States.
There is an ever growing list of talented South African athletes who never got to fulfil their true potential after deciding to accept bursaries to study in the United States. However Constant said that his decision to go to New Orleans was certainly not all bad.
“The coach who worked with me was good. He helped me to improve my speed and running technique. That led to me setting personal bests in the 200m and 400m. I guess I am to blame that my performances in the 400m-hurdles stagnated. The problem was that I did not trust my coach’s advice when it came to hurdling. Hurdling is such a technical event which means that if you start doubting your coach you are doomed to fail,” he explained.
Fredriech made South African athletics history at the Gauteng North Championships when he won the decathlon scoring 8002 points. He is only the second South African decathlete to go past 8000 points. Another former star from Pretoria, Willem Coertzen, who is the current South African record holder was the first.
Meanwhile Fredriech makes no secret that he wants score 8000 points again to prove to himself that the first time was no fluke.
“My training has been going well. More importantly is that apart from the usual niggles I am injury-free at the moment. So I am hoping to be competitive in Taipei,” he said before the departure of the team.
What excites Pretorius is that he was able to set personal bests in eight of the ten events so far this season.
“The 400m and the 1500m are the only two events in which I still need to improve. I am confident that I can do so. It took me awhile but I now realise to improve on 8002 points does not mean that I got to set new bests in every event all the time. The secret to being a good decathlete is consistency,” the popular athlete concluded.
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