(The Post News)- The 2025 ASA Senior Track and Field Championships delivered a thrilling showcase of South African athletic talent in Potchefstroom over the weekend, with eight athletes securing qualifying standards for this year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo—five of them for the first time.
Among the new qualifiers were sprinters Gift Leotlela and Bayanda Walaza in the men’s 100m, Sinesipho Dambile, Naaem Jack, and Abduraqhmaan Karriem in the men’s 200m, Zakithi Nene in the 400m, and middle-distance stars Prudence Sekgodiso and Charne Swart-Du Plessis in the women’s 800m.
Field events also saw standout performances, with Colette Uys impressing across three disciplines. Uys nearly broke the national record in the shot put with a throw of 18.14m—just 3cm shy of Ashley Erasmus’s long-standing mark. She also clinched gold in the discus and silver in the hammer throw.
On the track, Glenrose Xaba continued her distance-running dominance by winning both the 5,000m and 10,000m titles for a second consecutive year—securing her 10th senior national title.
Youth talent made its mark too. Seventeen-year-old Leendert Koekemoer broke the 31-year-old SA U20 record in the men’s 400m with a blistering 45.03, while 19-year-old Alicia Khunou set a new U20 women’s discus record at 55.06m to claim silver.
South African success extended beyond local borders. Akani Simbine kicked off his Diamond League season with a sub-10-second win (9.99s) in China, while Elroy Gelant shattered the national marathon record with a 2:05:36 finish in Hamburg—breaking Gert Thys’s 1999 time by nearly a minute.
Athletics South Africa President James Moloi praised the results, saying: “From local to international stages, our athletes are showing consistent progress. We are proud of their achievements and excited for what lies ahead.”
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