Magakwe leads SA challenge in Sweden
Simon Magakwe will be amongst 12 South African athletes competing at the Swedish Grand Prix in Goteborg, Sweden, on Thursday, with the event also serving as preparation for the Africa Senior Championships in Benin from 27 June to 1 July.
Magakwe will not only line up in the men’s 100m but will also be doubling up in the 200m.
He is the only South African male athlete who boasts a qualifying time in those two events. He therefore needs to post one more qualifier in order to lay claim to a spot in Sascoc’s team in London.
Magakwe competed in the Czech Republic on 11 June where he showed better form by clocking 10.22sec in the men’s 100m. The 27-year-old needs to run 10.18sec or faster in the 100m and 20.55sec or better in the 200m.
Hannes Dreyer and Waide Jooste will join Magakwe in the 100m with Thuso Mpuang in the 200m.
At Yellow Pages I on 20 March in Stellenbosch, Gladwin Mzazi clocked 13:24.50 in the men’s 5 000m, finishing outside the 13:20 Qualifying A-standard for the Olympic Games.
The SA Champion has since competed in three additional races but is yet to reach the qualifying mark.
Ruan de Vries will be hoping for a race without a headwind for a change will line up in the men’s 110m hurdles, and after his previous three races were affected by a strong headwind, will be hoping for calmer conditions in Sweden.
De Vries ran his best time of the season in Zeulenroda on 17 May, clocking 13.84sec.
SA Javelin Champion Robert Oosthuizen will compete in the men’s javelin throw. His best this season was 76.32m at the SA Championships in Port Elizabeth on 13 April.
Tsholofelo Thipe will double up in the women's 100m and 200m. She needs to run 23.10sec or faster in the 200m in order to qualify for London. Carina Horn will also compete in both events.
Other female athletes taking part in Sweden are Mapaseka Makhanya in the 1 500m and Janice Joseph in the long jump.
