While he had the crowd on its feet with his world-record time in the 100m (T37), Maties Parasport's Fanie van der Merwe stunned himself with this performance.
Van der Merwe ran the time of 11.46 seconds on the first day of the ASA Senior Track and Field Championships held in Stellenbosch recently. With this performance he matched the time of the Russian Andrey Vdovin.
This was without a doubt the highlight of the event for the Maties Parasport track athletes. Never in his wildest dreams did Van der Merwe think he would run a world-record time. He just wanted a solid performance.
"I was looking forward to the race. And when some of South Africa's top athletes walked into the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport – where I also stay – I could feel the vibe and I became very excited. Being able to run this year feels like a bonus. I am just grateful for the opportunity. Our training group's slogan is #RunFree. And that is the goal for each race. Just running and experiencing the freedom that comes with it. I am very thankful for the world-record time and it encourages me a lot for the rest of the season," said Van der Merwe.
The rest of the athletes also had a great meet.
Charl du Toit (T37) ran personal best times in the 100m and 400m. His time places him second behind Van der Merwe in the 100m. In the 400m his 51.21s gives him the world-leading time for the year and a new African record. When one considers that he tore his hamstring in February, this is an amazing achievement.
Dyan Buis (T38) also improved his time in the 400m. His 50.86s is a personal best and world-leading time. Anruné Liebenberg (T46) ran Paralympic qualifying and world-leading times in the 200m (26.82s) and 400m (59.82s) while Ilse Hayes' 12.20s for the 100m (T13) was a qualifying time for Rio. Arnu Fourie (T44) won both the 100m and 200m races. His 11 seconds in the 100m is a qualifying and world-leading time, while the 22.92s in the 200m is a world-leading time.
The Maties Parasport throwers also achieved some excellent results.
Reinhardt Hamman (F38) threw a season's best and Paralympic qualifying distance in the javelin and took back his world-leading mark for the year. Kerwin Noemdo (F47) also managed a season's best in the discus.
Youngster Thabo Dube (F57) competed in the discus and shot put events where he improved his personal best distances in both events and broke the SA record in the discus.
Zanele Situ (F54), who hopes to compete at her 5th Paralympic Games this year, threw a personal best and Paralympic qualifying distance in the javelin and by doing so improved her own SA record.
The Paralympic Games in Rio is from 7-18 September.
Photo:
Fanie van der Merwe at the National Championships for the Physically Disabled held earlier in Bloemfontein earlier. Photographer: Martin Potgieter, Bonzai Photography
