Lindsay Hanekom (Tuks) achieved something no South African 400m-hurdler could do for the past three years when he won in a time of 48.81s during yesterday's South African Senior Athletics Championships in Germiston.
The last time any South African hurdler was able to dip under 49 seconds was in 2016 when LJ van Zyl won in Ostrava clocking 48.67s.
This statistic was part of Hanekom's motivation. According to him he and his housemate, Sokwakhana Zazini (Tuks) talked about how 400m-hurdling in South Africa seems to be stagnating.
"We agreed that the onus was on us to revive South Africa's proud legacy in the 400m-hurdles. We psyched each other up by saying that currently, it seems as if the world's best hurdlers were getting faster and faster while we as South Africans seem to be slower.
"A natural conclusion from this was that we started teasing each other who would be the first to dip under 49 seconds. I was adamant that it was going to be me, while 'Socks' insisted it would be him. That I ended being the one to do so will always be one of my most special athletics memories."
The former World Junior and Youth Champion, Zazini, was second in 49.33s which is a mere 0.01s off his personal best time of 49.32s. Cornel Fredericks was third in 49.87s.
Hanekom has another reason why it is so important this season to him to run fast times.
Last year's inaugural IAAF World Cup meeting in London was a massive disappointment for him. He was last in 54.28s. It led to some teasing him saying that with times like that there is a real chance that South Africa's top female hurdlers are going to start beating him.
"I won't lie it hurt, but it also motivated me. I had something to prove which led to me having a serious to talk with my coach, Nico van Heerden. I realised that things could not keep on going as they were. Every time just as I seem to be finding some form I got injured.
"I got to give credit to 'Coach Nico'. He changed my training program with the focus more on quality than quantity. We realised that I was not able to train like most other athletes because if I did, there would always be a real injury risk. For the first time, I also started doing strength and conditioning training."
Hanekom is not sure as to when he will start his international campaign; however, he is confident that he will be capable of running even faster times.
Zeney van der Walt (Tuks) caused quite a surprise when she managed to beat Wenda Nel (Tuks) in the women's 400m-hurdles. It was only the third time in 11 finals that Nel got beaten.
Van der Walt's winning time was 55.93s with Nel second in 56.07s.
What excited Nel is that five athletes managed to dip under 60 seconds in the final. According to her, it proves that there is a revival in women's hurdling.
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