Cape Town — In a weekend of a mixed bag of results for South African athletes, young pole-vaulter Kyle Rademeyer and Sokwakhana Zazini stood head and shoulders above the rest in setting new personal bests and qualifying for the World Athletics Championships.
While many of Mzansi’s leading lights competed at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Gaborone, Botswana on Saturday, 21-year-old Kyle was on fire for his American university team, South Alabama, at the Maroon and White Invitational event in Mississippi.
— South Alabama Track & Field / XC 💨 (@SouthAlabamaTXC) April 30, 2023
Kyle is a former world junior bronze medallist, and now he will be able to mix it with the big boys.
The Paarl Gymnasium product from the Western Cape went through the competition unscathed for nine jumps up to a height of 5.36m, and then made his first error at 5.46m.
He got over that height at the second attempt, and then cleared 5.72m right away, which was a new personal best by 1cm.
But the big one was the world championship qualifying mark of 5.81m, and in a video posted on the South Alabama Track & Field team’s Twitter account, Kyle could be seen clearing 5.82m comfortably to set off wild celebrations trackside.
“Words will never be able to describe this moment ... it still hasn’t even sunk in. All I can say is thank you to God, my father, thank you to my coaches, thank you to my friends/family and all my supporters. Only going up from here,” Kyle said on Instagram.
His father Radus said on Facebook: “Another PB my boy, well done Kyle Rademeyer. Dad so proud on your 5.82m.”
Kyle can now look forward to competing in the world championships in Budapest, Hungary in August, where he will hope to follow in the footsteps of legendary SA pole-vaulter Ockert Brits and perhaps clear the magical six-metre mark.
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Whole meet is at https://t.co/4bznU0WezY pic.twitter.com/fhlHQl3sbi
Brits’ national record stands at 6.03m, set all the way back in 1995.
Meanwhile, the best performance by a South African in Gaborone was 400m hurdles star Zazini, who set a new personal best of 48.58 seconds to finish behind American winner Trevor Bassitt (48.43), which also qualified the 23-year-old SA star — a former junior world champion — for the senior world championships.
SA teenage sprinter Benjamin Richardson nearly produced a new personal best in the 200m in Botswana.
The 19-year-old former world junior sprint champion clocked 20.40 to win the second final of the half-lap race, which was followed by a new PB by home-town favourite Letsile Tebogo in a superb 19.87.
Richardson competed in the 100m as well, finishing second in 10.15, while Kenyan star Ferdinand Omanyala destroyed the field in the main race with a blisteringly quick 9.78 — although the time wasn’t recognised as a world lead due to the wind being above the legal limit at 2.3m/s.
Tebogo had a good day, finishing second in 9.91.
Young 400m star Lythe Pillay finished fourth with 45.07 in a race won by Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga, who clocked a stunning 43.91 to beat former Olympic champion Kirani James (44.76) into second place.
IOL Sport