The Tuks-Puma athlete, Rikenette Steenkamp, set a new South African indoor record yesterday in Glasgow by running a time of 8.29s in the 60m-hurdles.
She actually shattered the record as her time is more than a second faster than the previous record jointly held by Winnie de Winnaar and Simone Reinders. De Winnaar ran 9.44s in 2004 and Reinders did so in 2015.
Steenkamp's record-breaking effort happened during the heats of the Muller Indoor Grand Prix-meeting. The Tuks-Puma athlete possibly could have been faster than 8.29s. Unfortunately, a slight hiccup during her start turned out to be costly. It led to her finishing third in the heats setting the fourth-fastest time.
Alina Talay (Belorus), a former bronze medallist at the World Championships, won the final in a time of 8.03s. Last year's World Champion, Nia Ali (USA) was second also running 8.03s. Christina Clemons (USA) who won a silver medal in the 60m-hurdles during the
2018 World Indoor Championships was third in 8.04s.
Steenkamp was seventh in the final clocking 8.34s. It was the first time she competed indoors. What is exciting is that her time of 8.29s over 60 metres roughly equates to a time of 12.95s in the 100m-hurdles which proves she could be on track to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games. During last year's World Championships in Doha, she ran 12.96s.
According to her dad, Rigard Steenkamp, she so nearly did not compete yesterday as she had a bad case of the flu. A doctor prescribed antibiotics and bed rest. It meant for the two days before the event she was not able to train.
The Tuks-Puma athlete will be racing again next week in Spain.
Steenkamp also holds the South African 100m-hurdles record. During the Resisprint International Track and Field meeting in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland in 2018 she clocked a time of 12.81s. On the same during the heats, she won in 12.70s. It was however with the benefit of a +2.2m/s tailwind.
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