For South African athletics this is quite a turn-about.

Currently one of the main problems experienced by athletics in South Africa is that many talented young athletes are lost to the sport because of the lure of rugby, cricket or soccer.

The 18-year-old Van der Merwe took a break from athletics this season to play rugby for the Afrikaanse Hoër Seunsskool (Affies) in Pretoria.

He made an impact as a wing and, when he had the ball in hand, he scored quite a few tries with his quick burst of speed.

The “Wit Bulle”ended the season as the top rugby team of South African schools.

According to Van der Merwe, he is glad that he made the decision to play rugby for a season.

“I really missed my running and I now realize that I prefer individual sport to team sport.

“Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoyed every moment of playing rugby and the pleasant memories will last for a long time to come, but my rugby career has come to an end.

“In athletics it is all about personal sacrifices. What you put in, is what you get out. If you run a bad race you have only yourself to blame. It is not the same in a team sport.”

In 2011 Van der Merwe won the 110-hurdles at the IAAF Youth World Championship in France. He also won a gold medal at the Youth Commonwealth Games on the Isle of Man.

His best time, 13.39s, was the fastest run by a youth athlete for the season in the world for 2011 and it placed him 19^th on the all-time youth ranking list.

Van der Merwe, who will represent the University of Pretoria (Tukkies), admits that next season will be difficult for him because he plans to compete at the junior as well as thesenior level.

He has targeted the African Junior Championship and the World Student Games as the two meetings in which he wants to excel.

WimpieNel, Van der Merwe’s coach, reckons that it will not be a problem for him to switch between the higher senior hurdles and lower junior hurdles.

If everything goes according to plan, Van der Merwe hopes to be able to better the world junior record (13.12s), which is currently held by China’s hurdling legend, Liu Xiang.

Experts predict that, in a few years from now, the battle in the 110-hurdles between Van der Merwe and Lehann Fourie, also a former Affie and and Tukkie and the current SA record holder, could be one of the highlights of South African athletics.