On Saturday 25 March, Rikenette Steenkamp came to close to entering an exclusive club in the women’s 100m hurdles when she clocked 13.04sec at a League Meeting at the University of Pretoria. That club is the sub 13sec club and only one South African is part of it.
The track at UP, host for the final leg of the 2017 Varsity Athletics series, is rapidly becoming synonymous with fast times after Akani Simbine and Clarence Munyai set World Leads on the UP track in the men’s 100m Men and Junior men 200m.
Steenkamp’s 13.04 places her fifth on the current World Rankings for 2017 and second on the SA all-time lists. Only Corien Botha has ever gone faster with her SA Record of 12.94sec, run on 10 July, 1998 in Salamanca, Spain.
This will be the Tuks MA in Sport and Recreation Management student’s last appearance in the colours of Tuks, and she wants to leave a definitive legacy.
“Sub 13 (referring to becoming a member of the sub 13sec club) is obviously a huge dream for me. But I have to make sure I execute everything well and then the time will come by itself,” says the 24-year-old. “The track here is really fast, training is going very well and there is no reason why I cannot come close to that time. My big focus this year are the World University Championships in Taipei. So Friday will be a very important stepping stone for me.”
Steenkamp set the world alight as a Junior in 2009, when as a 16-year-old she clocked 13.61sec. Injury saw Steenkamp miss out on the 2015/16 season. Clearly though that time away has been good as she has shown some very promising early form. Wind robbed her of an early personal best of 13.14sec with the wind reading 2.7m/sec in Johannesburg on 18 February.
In Bloemfontein on 8 March, suspect timing saw her 13.09sec not added to the international statisticians’ lists. But there can be no doubting her 13.04sec from Saturday 25 March.
Her biggest challenge will come from Kovises’ Maryke Brits who in that 13.09 race was timed at 13.27sec. Brits has a best of 13.47sec run in Durban at the Africa Championships in Durban in June, 2016 where she claimed the Bronze medal.
The two have been streaks ahead of the rest of the women in the 100m hurdles. While Steenkamp is a notch above the rest in the field, Brits can capitlise on Steenkamp’s good form and be pulled to a new lifetime best.
By Manfred Seidler
