Tuks's beefed up their sprinting talent with the signing of the 18-year-old Eckhardt Potgieter. 

Earlier this year during the Gauteng North Championships at Tuks the Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool athlete ran a time of 10.29s in the 100 metres and 20.58s seconds in the 200 metres. 

His heroics compares favourably to the times the South African sprint legends Akani Simbine and Wayde van Niekerk ran when they were the same age. At 18 Simbine clocked 10.57s in the 100 metres and 21.27s over 200 metres while Van Niekerk ran 10.58s and 21.02s.

"I don't doubt that Potgieter would have been even faster if it were not for the national lockdown. He is a real talent. Our challenge at Tuks is to make sure he is adequately managed over the next few years," said Danie Cornelius (TuksAthletics manager).

"What excites me about Eckhardt is his all-round abilities. He has a good start, is fast around the bend and can keep his top-end speed. It makes him an asset for any 4x100m relay team."

The World Athletics Junior World Championships has been postponed to 22 August next year. It is still going to be held in Kenya. Cornelius predicts that Potgieter has what it takes to contest the final in both sprints. On a good day, he could even win a medal.

Potgieter is not the only exciting young prospect Tuks signed for next year.

The 18-year-old Kirsti Bell (Hoërskool Menlopark), who last year won the South African senior title in the 3000m-steeplechase is also going to don the "coveted striped vest" in 2021.

In March during the Gauteng North Athletics Championships, she improved her personal best time by a massive seven seconds running 10.38.15.

"Kirsti's time is still way off from the times that are run internationally, but she is consistently improving. I expect her to dip under 10 minutes in a few years from now." 

According to Cornelius, there is a real chance that the Youth Olympian, Carmie Prinsloo (Hoërskool Montana), will also be competing for Tuks next year.

Prinsloo's biggest highlight to date is earning fourth place in the 3000m race at the Youth Olympics Games in Buenos Aires and 27th-place at the IAAF World Cross-Country championships.

Her rivalry over the 800m as well as the 1500m with Tuks's Prudence Sekgodiso could be a definite highlight in South Africa athletics over the next few years. 

Prinsloo's respective best times are 2:06.66 (800m) and 4:19.33 (1500m) while Sekgodiso's ran 2:02.16 and 4:24.21.

Other new signings are Charlize Eilerd who has got best times of 11.77s in the 100m and 24.71s in the 200m;  Charne van Zyl (48.48m in the javelin) and Zander van der Merwe (68.15m in the javelin).