There was double gold, and records, for South Africa at the World Athletics Relay Championship in Guangzhou, China, on Sunday after the men’s 4X100m and 4X400m teams blazed to victory, while the women’s 4X400m team claimed bronze.
The SA men’s 4x100m quartet – Bayanda Walaza, Sinesipho Dambile, Bradley Nkoana and Akani Simbine – scorched around the track in a world leading 37.61 seconds to claim gold.
Walaza, the Under-20 world 100m and 200m champion, got the team off to the perfect start, while Dambile and Nkoana ensured they were in second at the final change.
All eyes were then on the in-form Simbine, the fastest man over 100m this year. And the back-to-back Diamond League winner didn’t disappoint.
He hauled in Brandon Hicklin of the US with a burst of pace off the bend that has become his trademark, to turn Olympic silver into gold.
The US were second, in 37.66, and Canada third.
The SA team had set the fastest time of their first-round heat, of 37.84 seconds, and lowered that in the final.
They were just 0.04 seconds outside the SA record of 37.57, which the national squad achieved when they earned silver at last year’s Olympic Games in Paris.
The men’s 4x400m team were equally superb, with Gardeo Isaacs, Udeme Okon, Leendert Koekemoer and Zakithi Nene storming to gold in 2:57.50.
They ripped 0.62 off the SA record of 2:58.12 set by Nene, Isaacs, Lythe Pillay and Antonie Nortje when they finished fifth at the Paris Olympics.
Behind them, the next-best team was Belgium, who completed the four-lap in 2:58.19 to take the second spot on the podium.
In the women’s 4x400m final, the quartet of Shirley Nekhubui, Miranda Coetzee, Precious Molepo and Zeney Geldenhuys clocked 3:24.84 to grab the bronze medal. They shattered the national mark of 3:28.01 set by Nekhubui, Molepo, Geldenhuys and Hannah van Niekerk in the heats the day before.
Ahead of them, Spain won gold in 3:24.13 and the US earned the silver medal in 3:24.72.The SA mixed 4x400m team of Van Niekerk, Mthi Mthimkulu, Jada van Staden and Tumisang Shezi took fifth place in 3:16.29.
All four SA squads had reached the finals of their events with solid performances in the heats on Saturday and thus qualifying automatically for the World Athletics Championships to be held in Tokyo in September.
“We are besides ourselves with joy. Ecstatic is probably the best way to describe our emotions. We entered for four events and we succeeded in three,” said James Moloi, the president of Athletics South Africa.
“When the team left here they were in high spirits and looked good at the three-day pre-departure camp in Johannesburg. They’ve met the mandate of targeting the podium in each event.
“You win some and you lose some, and fortune favoured the more prepared.
“We are very grateful and proud of our athletes, our coaches and all members of management for the good work.
The triumphant SA team returns home on Tuesday.
