Ruswahl Samaai and Luvo Manyonga took the crucial first step to possible medals after qualifying for the long jump final at the Rio Olympics.
It wasn’t the biggest efforts from the two Paarl-born athletes, but all they had to do was get through the gruelling qualifying phase at the Olympic Stadium on Friday night (Saturday morning SA time).
There were just 12 places in the final for the 32 entries, with a leap of 8.15m guaranteeing a spot. Each athlete had just three attempts, and only China’s Jianan Wang (8.24m) and the United States’ Jeff Henderson (8.20m) reached that mark, so it became a bun-fight for the remaining 10 final positions.
South African and African champion Samaai came to Rio ranked fifth in the world this year with a season’s best of 8.38m – which is also his personal best – and he would’ve felt confident of advancing to challenge for a medal in Saturday night’s final (1.53am Sunday morning SA time).
The 24-year-old produced a jump of 8.03m in round one, but couldn’t improve in the wet conditions, with further efforts of 7.96m and 7.82m. But it was enough to put him through to the final.
Manyonga would’ve felt the pressure even more as he no-jumped with his first attempt, but he came up with 8.12m the second time around, and finished off with 8.10m.
The 25-year-old would’ve been delighted with his performance after an inconsistent 2016 up to now in his return to the scene, and having jumped an 8.30m to be ranked ninth this year, he will fancy his chances of causing an upset.
The third South African in the field, Stefan Brits, couldn’t match the 8.22m that got him to Rio in the first place as he didn’t go beyond 7.71m, which was 14cm short of the lowest qualifying mark.
Other big names such as Greg Rutherford, Jarrion Lawson and Fabrice Lapierre all made it through, but the likes of Mike Hartfield, Michel Tornéus and Xinglong Gao were knocked out.
There was further joy for South Africa on the track, with national 100m record holder Carina Horn delivering when it mattered most as she had a great finish in her heat to qualify for the semi-finals.
Horn was up against American star English Gardner in the final heat of round one, and made a fair start. As she got into her stride, Horn pumped her arms and lifted her knees over the last 30 metres to beat Bulgarian Ivet Lalova-Collio into third, with the South African ending second in 11.32 behind Gardner’s 11.09.
National champion Alyssa Conley, though, was a victim of a tardy starter official in her heat. The athletes had already been asked to stand up, but once they were back in their blocks, the starter gun took ages to go off.
Conley and the rest of the field waited a good few seconds, and the South African battled to get going as a direct result of the delay.
Jamaican star Elaine Thompson won the heat in 11.21, which is way off her usual mark, which proves that she was also affected by the starter.
Conley, though, couldn’t save her race and finished sixth in 11.57, well short of her personal best of 11.23, which she ran in May this year.
But the 25-year-old will hope for better luck in her preferred 200m sprint.
@ashfakmohamed