Young Pretoria sprinter improve SA record three times in one day
Athletics lovers in South Africa, remember the name Viwe Jingqi, because according to experts this young girl will soon have the athletics world at her feet if her achievements from the past season and specifically her remarkable performance yesterday at the South African Junior and Youth Athletics Championships in Potchefstroom are taken into account.
South Africa has got a new sprinting sensation. She is 16, her name is Viwe Jingqi and she fast. Really fast.
She proved this statement on Friday at the South African Junior and Youth Athletics Championships in Potchefstroom.
The TuksSport High School learner improved her own South African 100m record for girls u.18 three times in less than seven hours. She ran 11.40s during the heats and even faster in the semi-finals with a time of 11.36s.
But she kept her best for last in the final when it really mattered. She clocked 11.22s.
At the moment, she is the fastest under-18 female 100m sprinter in the world. Only seven senior athletes have been faster so far this season. The 11.22s she ran in the final is also a new South African junior record (u.20).
The Tuks High School pupil is therefore making a habit of breaking decades-old records, as she has already improved two records this year that were over 30 years old.
Marcel Winkler held the SA u.20 record. She ran 11.25s in April 1989, which means this record stood for 33 years
Jingqi broke the national record for the first time in February during the Twizza Super Schools Meeting in Ruimsig when she ran 11.47s. It was the fastest time by a South African under-18 athlete in 38 years and four months. The previous record was held by Mari-Lise Furstenburg, who ran 11.56s in November 1983.
Photo: Reg Caldecott
The well-known athletics statistician, Danie Cornelius, predicted after the semi-finals that Jingqi could dip under 11.30s.
“If the weather plays along, she will do it. Her coach, Paul Gorries, agrees with me that she can do something amazing,” Cornelius said at 14:00. Less than four hours later, she ran 11.22s.
Cornelius said Jingqi’s race was phenomenal, especially since the temperatures were dropping. He believes if Gorries keeps on coaching her, there is a real chance that she can dip under 11 seconds as an under-20 athlete.
“But what she has achieved today is remarkable from a South African perspective. Since 2012 Carina Horn and Tebogo Mamathu have been the only two South African sprinters to dip under 11.30s in the 100 metres.
“Don’t forget she is only 16. Last year as a 15-year-old, she competed at the World Junior Championships (u.20) and qualified to run in the 200 metres semi-finals. I won’t be surprised if she runs a final in August in Colombia. In 2023 she will be a realistic medal contender at the World Junior Champs,” said an excited Cornelius.
According to Cornelius, there is a real chance of Jingqi also setting a new national record in the under-18 women’s 200 metres. In March at Tuks, she clocked 23.36s. Only Evette de Klerk has been faster, running 23.30s in 1982.
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