Visser still has work to do
LONG-jumper Zarck Visser yesterday made a victorious return to competition after a nine-month hiatus, but he still has much work to do.
Visser celebrated like he’d won an Olympic medal after his second jump at the SA Open championships in Potchefstroom – running across the track to hug his coach, Emmarie Fouche, in the stands – but that was to mark the return of his confidence rather than a spectacular jump.
In the end he won with a below-par effort of 7.75m that would not even have featured at last month’s national championships in Stellenbosch, where the winning leap was 8.38m.
“I’m a bit upset today,” said Visser, who underwent hip surgery early this year.
“Even 8.20m wouldn’t have cut it, my hunger is so great.”
He had not competed since claiming the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last year.
“My first jump I was really scared, I leaned to the left too much to protect my right hip,” explained the University of Johannesburg student. Then he got his confidence back.
Visser, hampered with a pinch in his hip the whole of last season, was relieved to be free of pain, but he pointed out he had plenty of work to do before competing internationally in Birmingham on June 7.
“The thing is to get back in the mindset. I have to get competition fit.”
Hurdler Wenda Nel was in brutal form in the 400m flat race, running alone out front as she clocked an impressive 52.09sec – and she might have gone even quicker had she not dipped on the line.
“That’s my personal best, I’m happy,” she beamed afterwards.
“I went out as hard as I could and I felt it on the home straight.”
But she is unlikely to improve on that today, given that the final is 35 minutes after her 400m hurdles race.
“My main focus is the 400m hurdles. I am really going to try and run a time faster than 55s. Whatever happens in the 400m will be okay with me.
“The reason I’m competing in both events is to condition my body to run heats, semifinals and final at the world championships [in Beijing in August].”
Her performance stood out on a day where the standard at this meet – where athletes from several Southern African countries are competing – was lower than at the closed SA championships.
Elroy Gelant, a 5 000m specialist, went out hard in the 1 500m and at the end was forced to duel hard to Rantso Mokopane by six hundredths of a second, but his winning time of 3min 44.84sec was nothing to write home about.
Roscoe Engel won the men’s 100m in 10.24 ahead of his Western Province teammate Antonio Alkana in 10.33.
Evergreen veteran Chris Harmse won the men’s hammer throw in 73m.