Thando Roto proved he is on track to run a second sub ten second time in the 100 metres in the next few weeks when he won the 100 metres in 10.11s on Saturday at the Bilboa-meeting in Spain.
The conditions did not favour fast times. It was rainy and cold, and the track was rock hard. Given this Roto is sort of satisfied with the way his race played out.
“It was not one of my better races, but given the circumstances I am satisfied. Unfortunately, I did not have the best of starts, but I made up for it by being able to accelerate towards the end of the race. It was a confidence booster to come so close to running a 10.0s,” said the Tuks-athlete whose next race is on 2 July in France.
Clarence Munyai, the South African junior record holder over 200 metres, also seems to be regaining the form which saw him clocking 20.10s earlier this season.
He won the 200 metres at the same meeting in a time of 20.41s. South Africa’s Hendrik Maartens finished fifth in 21.27s.
“I am slowly getting there. Hopefully, I will be able to run a good time before I return to South Africa,” said Munyai who is in matric at TuksSport High School.
**South Africa’s athletes also made their presence felt at the meeting in Nivelles, Belgium.
Last year’s Olympian, Lindsay Hanekom (Tuks), won the 400m-hurdles in 50.64s with Constant Pretorius (Tuks) second in 50.65s.
Ranti Dikgale won the 400 metres in a time of 45.71s and Gena Lofstrand the 800m for women in 2:02.43. Jacob Rozani finished second in the 800m for men clocking 1:48.76; Dylan Cotter was second in the long jump with a best attempt of 7.41m; Dumisane Hlaselo raced to a sixth place finish in the 1 500m running 3:52.13.
**Fredriech Pretorius (Tuks) finished sixth in the 21st Stadtwerke Decathlon competition in Ratingen. Germany’s Rico Freimuth won with a total of 8 663 points. Pretorius scored 7 588 points.
According to Pretorius, it was not his best of competitions but also not his worse.
“I have set a new personal best in the long jump, but unfortunately in doing so, I slightly injured my ankle which hampered me for the rest of the competition. I am excited about my performances in the throwing events as there are definite improvements.”
**The South African 100m-hurdles champion, Rikenette Steenkamp, has been invited to compete on Wednesday in the IAAF Challenge Meeting in Ostrava.
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