Geldenhuys smashes long-standing record

NAMIBIAN athletes gave some excellent performances at events in South Africa over the weekend.

The 18-year-old Ivan Danny Geldenhuys led the way when he smashed a 35-year-old record in the Men’s u19 400m event.

Competing at the Gauteng North Athletics Championships at the Pilditch Stadium, Geldenhuys won the 400m in a new Namibian u19 record of 46,29 seconds, to break Gerhard Barnard’s record of 46,92 which he set in 1985.

What’s more, Geldenhuys’ time is also the fastest for u19 men in the world this year and will make him a strong contender for a medal at the World Junior Athletics Championships which will be staged in Nairobi, Kenya later this year.

Geldenhuys’ time has not been verified by the IAAF yet, which ranks Reece Holder of Australia as the fastest in the world this year with a time of 46,44 seconds in the u20 men’s category, followed by two Jamaican athletes, Bovel McPherson (46,59) and D’Andre Anderson (46,73).

Geldenhuys has also qualified for the World Junior Championships in the 200m and 400m hurdles with respective times of 21,18 and 52,67 seconds respectively.

At the North West Championships in Potchefstroom, the 19-year-old Ryan Williams smashed his own Namibian u19 record of 48,45m with a new mark of 55,62m.

It is the third best u20 distance in the world this year, behind Connor Bell of New Zealand who threw 63,25m and Yasiel Sotero of Spain who threw 60,02m.

At the Gauteng Provincial Championships at the University of Johannesburg, Roger Haitengi won the triple jump with a leap of 16,20m, which is still quite a way off his national record of 16,78m that he set four years ago.

Another athlete who excelled at the North West Championships in Potchefstroom is Ane Rautenbach who set notable times in the 200m and 400m events.

She came second in the 200m in a time of 23,56 seconds, behind Line Kloster of Norway, who won in 23,53, while she once again came second in the 400m in 52,84, with Kloster winning in 52,43.

Especially her 200m time is impressive and within reach of Globine Mayova’s national record of 23,34, as well as the Olympics qualifying time of 22,80.

Other Namibian athletes who have excelled so far this year are Beatrice Masilingi and Christine Maboya, who are both 16 years old.

Their recent performances at the Swakopmund Grand Prix have not appeared on the IAAF’s latest rankings yet, but if confirmed, Masilingi, will have established the fastest time for u18 women in the 400m this year.

Her winning time in Swakopmund was 52,19 seconds, is well ahead of Elize Beer of Australia’s time of 52,70 seconds, which is ranked as the fastest women’s u18 time in the world this year by the IAAF.

Mbonga came second behind Masilingi in the 400m in 54,14, which is amongst the top 10 times on the IAAF rankings list.

The highlight at the Gauteng North Championships came from South Africa’s Commonwealth and African champion sprinter, Akani Simbine, who won the 100m in 10,01 seconds, but earlier won his heat in 9,91 seconds.

According to the IAAF website, it was the fastest time ever recorded by an African athlete on African soil.

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