Both coached by Nedbank Running Club national team manager Nick Bester in Pretoria, Gerda Steyn and Irvette van Zyl are in superb form and looking for a good result in Saturday’s marathon at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

“I must say that both Gerda and Irvette are in phenomenal shape. We changed the program a little bit in making the hard sessions extremely hard, but then adding in more rest in between for them to recover well and they’ve both responded well to the change,” said Bester shortly after his two athletes departed for Tokyo.

Having guided Steyn to a national record in the marathon and Van Zyl to a new personal best and Olympic qualifier from the same event in Sienna, Italy, the training is obviously working and is evident in the results being achieved.

“Overall, they are both extremely strong and the speed is there. We are just hoping for a relaxed last week prior the race with no unexpected health problems and we are taking all precautions not to get sick in any way,” Bester explained.

This is evident as was seen when Van Zyl ran a 10km time trial at home in Pretoria when the Spar Ladies 10km down in Durban was postponed due to Covid19. Her time of 32:45 on an undulating course at altitude was impressive.

“I’m very happy with the time that I ran because it was so cold and windy on that day. It was sad that the Spar race was cancelled because at sea level with competition I was excited to see what I could have run, but when life gives you lemons, you just make lemonade,” Van Zyl said.

Both Van Zyl and Steyn have the pedigree and times to sneak into a top 10 finish, something Bester doesn’t think is too out of reach.

“The major issue with Sapporo is the heat. The runners are lucky that it is there and not Tokyo, which is even warmer so we are hoping that on race day it can be a little bit cooler, and the girls will be able to execute their race plan,” Bester remarked.

When asked what the plan is, Bester smiled.

“It will all depend on the weather conditions, but I believe that both Gerda and Irvette are definitely in SA marathon record shape so if they run that time, we are confident of a good placing. With the world record at 2 hours 14 minutes 04 seconds and the Olympics record standing at 2 hours 23 minutes 07 seconds by Tiki Gelana (London, 2012), it shows us that the Olympic marathon is most of the times a tactical race and the Olympic winning time is not too far-fetched for our two Nedbank star athletes. Taking into consideration that Sapporo is close to sea level, I am confident that the duo will make us proud,” Bester concluded.

The women’s Olympic Games Marathon will be broadcast live on SABC Sport and Supersport with coverage starting at 00:00 on Saturday morning.

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram