Kyle Blignaut (Tuks) qualified this past weekend for the Tokyo Olympic Games with a winning throw of 21.21 metres in the shot put during the USSA Championships in Johannesburg. The ‘Big Man’ of TuksAthletics is in terrific form. Since the South African Championships in Pretoria, he has not had a bad competition. Blignaut won gold at the national championships with a 20.82 metre throw. Two weeks ago, he won in Potchefstroom with a 21.03 metre effort. The past weekend’s effort means the 21-year-old is South Africa’s third best shot putter of all time. At the USSA Championships the Tuks athlete has twice improved on his personal best distance. With his fourth attempt, he threw 21.14 metres qualifying for Tokyo. But the best was yet to come. His last throw was the big one – 21.21m. Half an hour later, Blignaut was confidently predicting that he knows he can do better. According to him, 21.50 is a doable challenge. The Tuks athlete is a near perfectionist. He does not believe in leaving anything to chance. When he realised that he would compete earlier than usual that morning at the USSA Championships, he adapted his training program to get his body used to perform at a 100% at a different time. “I was not feeling at my best while I warmed up. My body was sluggish. So, I did a few more warmup throws to get my muscles going. My fourth throw of 21.14m got my adrenaline pumping. I have been throwing that sort of distances regularly during training to do it in a competition proved to me that I am on the right track with my training. I was really focused on my last attempt, making sure that I execute my technique to perfection,” he explained. Blignaut’s big goal now is to qualify for the Olympic final. He knows what it is going to take to do so. “I got to constantly throw 21 plus metres. That is why I am excited to compete in Europe from next month. The more I compete against some of the best, the further I will throw. I think it will take 21.40 metres to qualify for the final in Tokyo,” he commented. For the record, Blignaut is 1.95 metres tall and weighs 148kg. He played rugby for a while at school, but he realised that the tape measure is fairer when judging performances. That is why he chose to stick with athletics. In 2018 he won gold at the World Junior Championships in Finland.  

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