Local athlete Wayne Snyman delivered the best performance of the South African team, finishing seventh in the men’s 20km race at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat, Oman on Saturday.

Snyman, who won the SA 35km title earlier this year, dropped back down to his specialist distance, completing the 20km race in 1:25:33 as the 36-year-old athlete produced one of the best championship results of his career to close out the two-day showpiece.

His fellow South Africans struggled, however, with Tumisang Pule finishing 49th in 1:40:50 and Sizwe Ndebele ending 52nd in 1:44:07, as the national squad settled for ninth place in the team competition.

Toshikazu Yamanishi of Japan won the men’s 20km race, with Ecuador securing the team title.

Snyman was the oldest athlete competing in the 20km race. Such statistics do not faze him. Age to him is only a limitation one puts on one’s mind.

“In the past, there have been 36-year-old race walkers who won world titles. I have indeed become stronger with age. I proved it to myself with last year’s top twenty finish at the Tokyo Olympic Games. I now execute my race better because I focus on the small things that make a big difference,” he remarked after the race.

It is the first time in more than 20 years that a South African athlete has finished in the top ten at a World Team Championships. It was impressive to see how Snyman kept his cool from start to finish. Sticking to what worked for him.

After five kilometres, he was 23rd. At the 10km-marker, he was ninth. It was only over the last kilometre that he moved up to seventh.

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