A total of 28 athletes will represent South Africa in the senior and junior divisions at the World Cross Country Championships.
He’s going to have to run out of his skin, and he’s unlikely to end the drought, but all eyes will be on Adriaan Wildschutt on Saturday as he attempts to become the first South African athlete to earn a medal at the World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida.
The global cross country showpiece is the only major athletics championship where South Africa has never won a medal. In our defence as a nation, it’s also the toughest running world championship to earn a spot on the podium.
On the track and the road, athletes compete over specialist distances, but in cross country everyone runs one race, so in the senior men’s and women’s 10km contests they turn out against a range of athletes from 1 500m runners to marathon runners.
In addition, there is significant depth in each team. Unlike track championships, where countries are limited to three athletes, nations can enter six individuals in each race at the cross country spectacle.
On top of this, the courses are usually very challenging, including steep hills, sharp turns and various obstacles that need to be overcome. It’s hard as hell.
Some near misses
South Africa has come close to getting on the podium, narrowly missing out on multiple occasions.
In Amorebieta in 1993, Zola Budd finished fourth in the women’s race, just one second behind bronze medallist Lynn Jennings of the United States.
And in Stellenbosch in 1996, Colleen de Reuck grabbed fifth spot, less than a second outside a place on the podium.
More recently, in Bathurst in 2023, the SA mixed relay team – Ryan Mphahlele, Prudence Sekgodiso, Tshepo Tshite and Caster Semenya – took fourth position.
Budd did win the women’s world title twice – in Lisbon in 1985 and Neuchatel in 1986 – but she was competing for Great Britain, and De Reuck went on to earn bronze in Dublin in 2002, but she was representing the US.
Can Wildschutt break new ground?
Unfortunately for Wildschutt, he is unlikely to get any support from the rest of the SA team, while the powerful Kenyan, Ethiopian, Ugandan and American squads will have tremendous depth and will work together in the senior men’s race.
But Wildschutt will be confident of putting up a fight after finishing 10th over the 10 000m distance at the 2024 Olympic Games and last year’s World Athletics Championships on the track, and he will be aiming to become the first South African to achieve a top-10 finish in the senior men’s cross country race.
He’s going to have to work hard for it, but if he can stay out of trouble, grit his teeth and fight to the death, he might just be able to put himself in contention for a surprise medal.
If he even gets close, he will have me screaming at the TV and jumping on my couch.
