Zeney Geldenhuys and Rogail Joseph produced an explosive battle on Friday, with both athletes qualifying for this years Olympic Games on day two of the SA Athletics Championships in Pietermaritzburg.
Geldenhuys, a former world champion in the youth and junior age groups, won gold in the womens 400m hurdles final in 54.72, with Joseph, who won the African Games in Ghana last month, pushing her all the way to the line.
Joseph clocked 54.84, just 0.01 inside the automatic Olympic qualifying standard of 54.85.
Record for RamokgopaIn third place, 16-year-old Tumi Ramokgopa was also spectacular, setting a new SA U-18 record of 57.04.
Its very exciting to know there are girls pushing me because without them its difficult to run great times, said Geldenhuys.
Im ecstatic and I feel truly blessed to run the Olympic qualifier. It takes some pressure off because now I know I have the automatic qualifying time.
Chasing faster timesGeldenhuys admitted, however, that she needed to slice a chunk off her personal best of 54.47 if she hoped to make it through to the Olympic final in Paris in August .
From here its much harder work to get the times down because if I want to make the final I need to run 53. But I definitely feel its within reach.
In the mens 400m hurdles final on Friday, Lindukhule Gora stunned the rest of the field to win gold in 49.45.
Sabelo Dhlamini was edged into second place (49.48) and Njabulo Mbatha finished third in 49.57.
