March 2025 will forever be a big month in Charné Swart’s life, and not just because she ran the 800m in under two minutes for the first time last week.

The month will get even more exciting later, because in about two weeks she is also getting married.

Swart proved that dreams could become true when she won the 800 metres in 1:59.86 at Pilditch. The Tuks fifth-year medical student is only the sixth South African female athlete to run the race in under two minutes.

Swart’s performance has some history attached to it. It is the first time a local female coach and athlete have achieved the same breakthrough in the same event. Swart’s coach, Ilze Wicksell, is the first South African female athlete to have dipped under two minutes in the 800 metres. Wicksell did so 42 years ago. Swart is only the sixth South African athlete to do so.

“I’m so relieved that it’s finally happened. I’ve been trying to break the two-minute mark for a long time. And now it’s happened. It is an incredible feeling,” Swart said in an interview afterwards.

Swart is known for her sporting demeanour. Moments after participating in the 800 at the World Student Championships in China, she rushed to the aid of a fellow athlete who had collapsed after her race. So, it is no surprise that after her breakthrough on Saturday, she was full of praise for Botswana’s Oratile Nowe.

“I have to be honest; Oratile did the hard work by setting the pace from the start. I only passed her in the last 100 or so metres. It would have been great if she also dipped under two minutes,” the aspiring doctor remarked.

Swart’s ultimate goal is to qualify for the Tokyo World Championships in September. That means a time of 1:59.00. She is confident it is achievable. She also plans to compete at the World Student Games in Germany in July.

“I trained the best I’ve ever done in the off-season. Saturday was only my second race. We haven’t started to really fine-tune for the 800 metres yet. It makes me excited to see what I am capable of,” she said.

The one crucial thing to Swart every time she lines up to run is not to be afraid.

“I give my all when I run because I don’t want to disappoint myself. The moment I finished racing, I must know it was my best effort. I could not have done better,” she commented.

It is the first time since the early eighties when Wicksell and Eraneé Van Zyl both ran sub-two times in the 800 metres that two local athletes can do it again. The battle between Swart and Prudence Sekgodiso could become one of the great highlights in local athletics.

“Prudence and I have been competing against each other since our school days. Prudence deserves credit for reviving the 800 metres for women in South Africa. After Caster Semenya, there was a slump. If it wasn’t for Prudence, we might still be running times of 2 minutes and five seconds because that was good enough to win locally. Through her performances, she forced us to get out of our comfort zones,” Swart concluded.

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