‘The dream is still alive’: Luvo Manyonga reclaims national long jump title

Former long jump world champion Luvo Manyonga capped an incredible comeback campaign on Friday, winning his first national title in seven years at the SA Athletics Championships in Stellenbosch.

Manyonga, 35, enjoyed a spectacular top-flight career which included an Olympic silver medal, as well as Commonwealth Games and African Games titles.

A second ban for recreational drug use in 2021 threatened to derail the South African record holder’s career, but Manyonga made a comeback last season, and on Friday he took a big step forward by leaping 8.04 metres in cold and wet conditions at Coetzenburg Stadium to reclaim the national crown he last won in 2019. He was nine centimetres clear of Boland teammate Divan Manuel who earned the silver medal with a 7.95m jump.

“This means the world to me. You never right off a person’s dream. As long as the person is still alive, the dream is still alive,” Manyonga said afterwards.

“Today is the day I’ve been looking for. Last year I came number six in the final… and now I’m just jumping to give hope to people and show that whenever you get that chance, you’d better use it.”

Looking ahead

Manyonga said he would now compete on the international circuit, looking for some bigger jumps. And while it was unlikely he would be able to challenge his national record of 8.65m set in 2017, he hoped to participate at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July.

“I’m looking forward to competing in the international outdoor season, but I’m just taking it one competition at a time… and that big jump is going to come,” he said.

“Today the conditions were not that good, and producing a distance like that in this kind of weather shows there is a big distance in me.”

Maiden titles for hurdlers

Among other highlights on Friday, on day two of the SA Athletics Championships, Wernich van Rensburg stunned a quality field and Olympic semifinalist Rogail Joseph produced a dominant effort to win the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles finals.

Van Rensburg completed the one-lap race in 50.05 seconds in horrible conditions, with former SA champion Lindukuhle Gora grabbing the silver medal in 50.26, and Joseph (competing in the absence of five-time national champion Zeney van der Walt) won gold in 55.94, with Hannah van Niekerk taking the runner-up spot in 56.70.