It would be interesting to see how fast Carina Horn can be over the 100m once she seriously starts training.
The South African champion and record holder revealed this week that so far she has been loafing, just doing enough to get by on the track. The hard work will only start after she has raced the 100m tomorrow night at the Liquid Telecom Athletics Grand Prix-meeting in Paarl. Then it will be business as usual clocking in at her “office” at the track for up to seven hours a day.
Horn said she and her coach, Rayner Schopf, purposely decided to take things easier as it long season and the aim is that she should still be able to run fast time by September.
In spite of not putting in the hard work, Horn is confident of giving a good account of herself in Paarl.
“There is another good race left in my legs. I just must make sure that I get to execute my race to perfection,” said Horn who raced to a time of 11.03s in the semi-finals during the national championships in Pretoria and clocked 11.08s in the final.
Another highlight this season for her was improving the South African indoor-record over 60m in France to 7.09s.
It is accepted that Anaso Jobodwana winning a bronze medal in the 200m at the 2015 World Championships and Simon Magakwe being the first local sprinter to dip under 10 seconds in the 100m in 2014 were responsible for starting the men’s sprint revolution in South African athletics. They proved that nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.
Horn who is always reluctant to brag about her achievements hopes that she might also inspire the youngsters with her speedy exploits.
According to her the times in female sprint races are already starting to improve. She is especially excited about how Tebogo Mamatu (Tuks) seems to be getting faster each time she races. Before the national championships, her best time was 11.34s. In the heats, she ran 11.30s. Her time in the final was 11.27s which place Mamatu amongst the top ten on the South African all-time list.
The 100m-final at the national championships is possible one of the fastest ever. Horn clocked 11.08s and Mamatu 11.27s while Cassidy Williamson (KZN) was third in 11.31s. Last year’s top three times in the final were 11.41s, 11.44s and 11.56s.
Schopf is confident that the Tuks sprinter will dip under 11 seconds this season. As far as he is concerned, it is just a matter of time.
“If you had asked me a few year backs whether I thought sub 11 seconds was possible I would have thought it was crazy. But over the last few years, we have been getting there one step at a time. The secret is never to let go of the hunger to be better the next time you race.
“After each of Carina’s breakthrough races we might celebrate having a few drinks, but then we ask each other what is next? What was good today is never going to be good enough for tomorrow."
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