The former world champion, Zeney van der Walt, surprised herself last week when she won the 400m-hurdles in 55.36s during the Gauteng North Championships in Pretoria.

It is the second-fastest time of her career. The Tuks athlete can also boast of being the fastest female 400m-hurdler in the world, at least for the current season. More importantly, her speedy heroics mean she has qualified for the World Championships in Oregon, USA, later this year.

“I am shocked. I did not expect to be this fast so early in the season. The time I ran is close to what I did when I won the under-20 world title in 2018,” she remarked after the race.

According to Van der Walt, the most critical thing she focused on from last year was making sure she correctly executed the small things in her technique. To her, it is also about controlling the controllable when racing. Running her own race.

When complimented on her strong finish, Van der Walt said it had been a while since she felt so strong.

“When I got to the ninth hurdle, I felt in total control, and that is a nice feeling,” Van der Walt concluded.

Tuks’ Taylon Bieldt set a new personal best finishing second in the 400m-hurdles running 55.91s.

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