Every time Prudence Sekgodiso (TuksSport High School) steps onto the track to race, she only has one goal, and that is to win.
Finishing second feels to her like being the first loser. It is something the Tuks athlete who is supported by the Athletics Foundation Trust hates. With such a positive attitude to racing, it won’t be a surprise if she should medal next week at the African Youth and Junior Championships in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (16-20 April).
Sekgodiso certainly proved with her 20th placed finish during the junior women’s race at the recent World Cross Country Championships in Denmark that she has the credentials to do so.
In spite of being a relative novice when it comes to international racing, she impressed with how she raced from the front with the world’s best from the start. To her credit, she realised she might be making a mistake, so the Tuks athlete slowed down somewhat but not so much as to forgo on the goal she set herself, and that was to finish in the top twenty. She crossed the finish line less than two minutes behind the eventual winner, Beatrice Chebet (Kenya).
Her performance in Denmark proves that Sekgodiso is learning each time she gets to compete internationally. During last year’s Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, she got over eager that led to her being disqualified in the 800m-final because she overstepped. If she had not done so, she would have won the bronze medal.
Sekgodiso has been dominating the local under-18 races over 800 and 1 500 metres over the last two years. She is not sure, but she thinks she might have only been beaten once or twice on the track over the previous two years.
A definite highlight this season was winning the 800 metres during the Gauteng North Championships in a time of 2:03.98. It is a faster time than what Caster Semenya ran when she was under-18. Sekgodiso is confident of being even faster. If her body holds up, she hopes to do so during the South African Senior Championships in Germiston.
Without ever really planning to do so Sekgodiso’s training to become a top middle and long distance runner started while she was a youngster at the Medingen Primary School in Limpopo. Every morning she had to walk-jog about 10km to get to the school and then another 10km to get back home.
Godfrey Mashegwane has no qualms in describing the Tuks athlete as the most talented he ever had the privilege to coach.
“She is just amazing as an athlete and a person. She brings such a positive vibe to the track that even I as a coach can’t help but be motivated. Prudence got this hunger to be the best, and it is as if nothing seems to faze her ever.
“What happens happened she is never one to wonder what could have been. When she has a bad race, she immediately puts it behind her. All that matters is the next time she has to race better.
“My biggest challenge is to ensure that she never gets over-raced. I owe it to South African athletics to ensure that she continues to excel as a senior athlete two years from now.”
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