In a season which doesn’t include a major global outdoor track and field championship, middle-distance runner Prudence Sekgodiso says she will do some juggling as she focuses a little more on the 1 500m event.
Better known for her performances over the 800m distance – she is a former world indoor champion and Olympic finalist over two laps – Sekgodiso hopes to prove she is equally capable in the metric mile.
Earlier this month, she won the 800m title for the sixth time at the annual SA Athletics Championships in Stellenbosch, but she was stunned by in-form longer distance specialist Karabo More who outkicked her to win the 1,500m final.
Sekgodiso bounced back, however, to beat More at the Simbine Classic in Pretoria on Tuesday, securing victory in 4:08.93, with More taking the runner-up spot in 4:11.90.
In the process she sliced nearly a second off her 1,500m career best of 4:09.88 which she set in Gaborone in 2022.
“After nationals I doubted myself, but afterwards I went back to the drawing board,” Sekgodiso said.
“We did some touch-ups here and there, and coming here was just to test where my training was at.”
Aiming for improvement over 1,500m
The popular 24-year-old athlete confirmed she planned to compete at the African Athletics Championships in Ghana next month where she aimed to return to the podium after grabbing the bronze medal in the 800m event at the continental showpiece in Mauritius in 2022. She was also hoping to form part of the SA team at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July.
However, with no World Championships or Olympic Games this season, she wasn’t putting too much pressure on herself as she continued her comeback from a hamstring injury which saw her withdrawing during her first-round heat at the World Championships in Tokyo last year and prevented her from defending her global indoor title in Poland in March.
“This year we have no goal, just to play around and race as much as we can,” Sekgodiso said.
“We’re going to race both the 800m and 1,500m this year and we’re trying to lower my 1,500m time, so this latest result (in Pretoria on Tuesday) shows we’re on the right track, and we’ll see where it goes.”
