Cape Town — After missing out on the Tokyo Olympics final, Jason van Rooyen proved that he can challenge Kyle Blignaut to be South Africa’s best shot put athlete by claiming victory at the opening ASA Grand Prix meeting in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.
Van Rooyen competed alongside Blignaut in Japan last year, but it was the latter that advanced to the final and finished in sixth position.
But this time around at the Free State Athletics Stadium, it was Van Rooyen who took the honours with a best throw of 20.64 metres, with Blignaut second with a 20.43m effort.
Van Rooyen took charge from the opening round as he produced a 20.57m throw, compared to Blignaut’s 20.17m, and went on to record 20m-plus in his first five rounds, before a foul on the final attempt.
Blignaut also pulled out five throws over 20 metres, but couldn’t quite get the better of Van Rooyen in his comeback from a six-week injury layoff.
“It was tough today. We didn’t expect to do that well. We had a long week and came back from Covid as well, so the body was still flat,” Van Rooyen told the ASA YouTube channel. “But I did a prayer today, God produced miracles today and I’m grateful.”
In the men’s 100m, 33-year-old two-time Olympian Sibusiso Matsenjwa of eSwatini showed that he can still take on younger athletes as he held off Luxolo Adams to win in 10.50 seconds.
It was a competitive 110m hurdles race as well, where African record-holder Antonio Alkana went up against former SA record-holder Ruan de Vries.
Most of the field knocked over a few hurdles, but Alkana kept his composure and edged ahead of De Vries from about the halfway mark to clinch victory in 13.78 seconds, with De Vries in second with 13.84.
On the women’s front, the highlight of the meet was the 100m hurdles race. Youngster Marione Fourie’s name is on everybody’s lips after she posted a superb time of 12.86 seconds at the Athletics Gauteng North provincial championships last Saturday – although the effort isn’t an official one due to a tail-wind of +2.2m/s.
The 19-year-old will be chasing Rikenette Steenkamp’s South African record of 12.81 this season, and the Tuks athlete was the favourite on Wednesday in the absence of Steenkamp.
But Fourie was chased all the way by Taylon Bieldt on Wednesday. In fact, Bieldt led the race up until the last few metres, and it looked like she was going to cause an upset.
Fourie, though, did just enough to dip near the line and claim victory in 13.10 seconds, with Bieldt second in 13.15.
Star Namibian duo Beatrice Masilingi and Christine Mboma went head-to-head in the 100m, and it was a thrilling battle for the first 50 metres as they were neck and neck.
But the 18-year-old Mboma eventually stretched ahead after the halfway mark and won in a quick time of 11.15 seconds, with Masilingi the runner-up with 11.24.
Selected Results
Men’s Shot Put
1 Jason van Rooyen 20.64m
2 Kyle Blignaut 20.43m
3 DJ Liebenberg 16.69m
Men’s 110m Hurdles
1 Antonio Alkana 13.78
2 Ruan de Vries 13.84
3 Rivaldo Roberts 14.21
Men’s 400m
1 Gardeo Isaacs 46.62
2 Lindukuhle Gora 46.99
3 Tsebo Matsoso 47.22
Men’s 800m
1 Jabulane Ncamane 1:46.95
2 Joel Semenya 1:47.51
3 Edmund du Plessis 1:47.74
Men’s 100m
1 Sibusiso Matsenjwa (eSwatini) 10.50
2 Luxolo Adams 10.54
3 Theodor Young 10.56
Women’s 100m hurdles
1 Marione Fourie 13.10
2 Taylon Bieldt 13.15
3 Kayla van den Bergh 13.97
Women’s 400m
1 Zeney van der Walt 51.90
2 Line Kloster (Norway) 52.34
3 Marlie Viljoen 53.33
4 Wenda Nel 53.48
5 Taylon Bieldt 53.92
Women’s 100m
1 Christine Mboma (Namibia) 11.15
2 Beatrice Masilingi (Namibia) 11.24
3 Sherley Nekhubvi 11.49
IOL Sport