One thing that is certain when Wenda Nel and Zenéy van der Walt face-off in the 400m-hurdles is an exciting race. They can't help but push each other to the limit.

Tomorrow during the Gauteng North Athletics Championships at the Bestmed TuksAthletics Stadium, they will resume their rivalry. It has been quite a while since both of them raced the 400m-hurdles. The last time Nel did so was August 2019. Van der Walt's last hurdles race was in October the same year. 

In all likelihood, they will be like two "boxers" who just feel each other out in the first round of a fight. 

Nel, an eight-time South African champion, said she is excited and nervous at the same time.

"I got no idea as to how my race is going to play out. In the past, there were times that I surprised myself as to how fast I ran in my first race. The opposite is also true. There were occasions when I was too conservative. For me, tomorrow's race is an icebreaker.  I need to get a feel of what hurdling is about. It is about gaining confidence. 

"I will be honest—the last nearly three years since the 2018 Commonwealth Games had been challenging because of my injury woes, but it made me mentally stronger.

"Over the last two years, I have learned that being older means you can't do as many quality sessions a week. I got to be cleverer about the way I train. I can at most push myself to the limit twice a week, then I need to work on my recovery," the 32-year-old athlete explained.

Still, the Tuks-hurdler said it has been a while since she felt this good. 

"Last week, I won a 300m-hurdles race in a time of 39.38s. It compares pretty favourably to the times ran in international races. Hopefully, it bodes well for tomorrow."

Nel believes tomorrow's race might not just be a duel between her and Van der Walt. 

"I raced against Taylon Bieldt (Tuks) in the 300m-hurdles. It seems as if she did not have the best of starts, but she really came at me during the latter stages of the race. She also clocked a time of 39 seconds."

With all the uncertainty about what might happen in the next few weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nel has set herself the goal of trying to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. It means running 55.40s. That is why she and van der Walt must get to race each other to keep the competition going. 

Their 400m-hurdles rivalry is one of the most exciting in the history of South African women's athletics. Their first epic encounter was during the 2018 South African National Championships at their home athletics stadium. Nel won, running 55.01s. Van der Walt was second, a mere 0.04s behind. 

During the 2019 National Championships in Germiston, van der Walt won in a time 55.93s. Nel finished second running 56.07s. The time-gap was only 0.14s. 

The 20-year-old, van der Walt is a double gold medallist from the 2017 World U18 Championships and the 2018 World U20 Championships. In 2019, she won a silver medal at the World Student Games.