Luxolo Adams of TuksAthletics, could well be South Africa's next sprinter to dip under 10 seconds in the 100 metres event. Recently, in Potchefstroom, he won in a time of 10.07.  

It means unofficially, he is now one of the fastest local sprinters in the short sprint. Only 10 athletes had been faster over 100 metres. Unfortunately, the wind from behind was 2.1m/s when Adams raced. The wind metre reading needed to be less than 2m/s for his time to be official. 

The Tuks sprinter is far from being discouraged. What matters now is being fully fit and racing. The last time, he ran was in March 2020. 

According to Adams, he did not expect to be that fast. Especially since he does not consider himself to be a 100-metre sprinter. Recently, it was only the second time he competed in the short sprint. In 2017, he clocked a hand time of 10.33s. 

Adams considers himself a 200m specialist. In 2018, he won a silver medal at the Athletics World Cup in London. It was the year when he seemingly could do no wrong. In seven races in Europe, he podiumed five times. He clocked a best time of 20.01s. 

But the following year, disaster struck. Adams injured his hamstring. It got so bad that he could hardly race. 

Paul Gorries (Athletics South Africa relay coach) convinced Adams to start competing in the 100 metres. 

"I told him that we need the 100 metres to give me what I want in the 200 metres. He needs to work on his speed. So I converted him to a 100 metre-sprinter. The fact that he ran 10.07s shows there are good things to come."

Adams and Gorries are in agreement that the recent race was far from perfect. 

"We still need to work on the start. Luxolo's reaction was good, as was his block clearance. During his driving phase, he was caught 'swimming'-his body movement was a bit side to side and not a straight line. Actually, there is a lot of things over the first 40 metres we need to work on,” explained the Tuks based coach.

Gorries predicts that Adams can run sub-10s over 100 metres as well as sub-20s in the 200 metres. 

"Luxolo is a fantastic athlete. He can be competitive in the 100-, 200- and 400m. As a youngster, he clocked 46.37s in the 400m. But I don't want athletes to be obsessed with running specific times. It is a case of if it happens, it happens.

"My focus as a coach is geared towards Europe. It happens too often in South Africa that athletes run well in February-March, but by the time they get to Europe, there are no legs'. 

"That is why in terms of speed, endurance and pure speed, there are things we have not touched. Luxolo and all the other athletes I coach are currently running on the work they did in the offseason. They will be at their best close to the Tokyo Olympic Games."