Blackheath’s Hanekom dreams of Rio

He was pushing hard for an Olympic qualifying time, but it just wasn’t happening for 400m hurdler Lindsay Hanekom.

He was pushing hard for an Olympic qualifying time, but it just wasn’t happening for 400m hurdler Lindsay Hanekom.

The former Capetonian, who now runs out of the Tuks Athletics Club in Pretoria, was probably wondering if his Olympic dream was slipping away.

But having come close to the 49.40-second mark on several occasions, Hanekom cracked the time with a terrific 49.03 at the SA Open Championships in Bloemfontein earlier this month.

And he turned 23 a week later, so things cannot be better for Hanekom, who is getting ready to compete in the IAAF World Challenge meet in Dakar, Senegal on Wednesday.

“Man, it’s a dream come true. All the hard work over the past years has paid off. The Olympic Games is any athlete’s major goal. I’m just blessed with this God-given talent and all I want to do is to improve on every aspect of my sporting career,” Hanekom told Independent Media from Dakar.

Hanekom – who matriculated from Blackheath Secondary School – decided to make the big move to Pretoria this season and leave behind the Cape athletics scene in the hope of making it to Rio.

“I decided to make a big change in my athletics career. In Cape Town I was the only 400m hurdles athlete to compete at league meetings. With no competition, I could not reach my full potential and run good times,” he said.

“In Pretoria, there were all the top-ranked 400m hurdles athletes in South Africa (including national champion LJ van Zyl and Cornel Fredericks). This meant being in an environment like that would increasingly drop my times, and also train with the best athletes and make use of quality sport equipment which the HPC (high performance centre at the University of Pretoria) offers.

“Unfortunately I don’t train with any of the above-mentioned athletes, but they do inspire me to follow in their footsteps of becoming global potential contenders and also medallists.”

Hanekom’s first major event overseas was last year’s World Student Games in Gwangju, South Korea, where he reached the semi-finals. He will hope to go one step further in Rio in August, but it will be tough as fellow South Africans Van Zyl and Fredericks will be pushing hard to go all the way as well.

But that journey to Rio starts in Dakar on Wednesday, where another South African in Le Roux Hamman will line up in the 400m hurdles race. Hamman broke 50 seconds for the first time in his career in March with 49.99, but will attempt to run an Olympic qualifier time of 49.40.

Home-town star Amadou Ndiaye, with a personal best of 49.61, will look to keep Hanekom at bay, while Jamaica’s Leford Green (PB: 48.47) and Belgium’s Michaël Bultheel (PB: 49.04) are the other contenders.

“I haven’t set any time for me, to be honest,” Hanekom said. “My body is very tired from the long flights. But I’m looking forward to smash the Olympic Games qualifier again for the second time.”

Another top South African hurdler in Antonio Alkana will also take part in Dakar in the 110m hurdles. Alkana is in wonderful form and comes off a personal best of 13.28 at the Rabat Diamond League on Sunday, which was just 0.04 of a second off the SA record of 13.24 by Lehann Fourie.

Cape athlete Alkana will be pushed by Americans Jarret Eaton, who ran a PB of 13.25 in Ostrava last Friday, as well as Jeff Porter and Ronnie Ash.

In the 1 500m, Dumisane Hlaselo will make yet another bid for an Olympic qualifier. He faded to eighth in Rabat in 3:37.73, with the Rio mark at 3:36.00. Hlaselo will be joined by another South African in Jerry Motsau, whose personal best of 3:36.74 was recorded in 2014, so he could also push for a qualifying time.

On the women’s front, SA double sprint champion Alyssa Conley, who came fourth in the 200m in Hengelo on Sunday, will race in the 100m in Dakar.

Conley’s PB of 11.29 will come under pressure from Jamaica’s Remona Burchell (11.03) and America’s Tawanna Meadows (11.11).

Dylan Cotter (long jump), Orazio Cremona (shot put) and Tsholofelo Thipe (women’s 400m) are the other South Africans participating in Dakar.

ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za

@IndyCapeSport - Independent Media