Manyonga goes to great lengths for glory this year
SPECIAL JUMPER: Olympic silver medallist Luvo Manyonga at the Gauteng North champs yesterday LUVO Manyonga’s ambition doesn’t end at breaking the 8.95m world long-jump record, he is looking to take the sport to a new level.
“I want to be the first person on Earth to jump over 9m,” the Olympic silver medallist told a press conference at the Tuks athletics stadium in Pretoria yesterday, a day after setting an 8.62m African record, breaking the 8.50m mark previously held by Khotso Mokoena.
His was one of three records at the Gauteng North championships, where Soks Zazini clocked 48.84sec to post a 400m hurdles under-18 world best time and Gift Leotlela broke the South African under-20 100m mark with a 10.12.
Leotlela, racing in the heats, scuppered the 10.19 previously held by Akani Simbine, who led the first-ever double sub-10 on South African soil yesterday afternoon.
He fought desperately for his 9.92 victory, edging his Tuks teammate Thando Roto, who went 9.95 to become the fifth South African sprinter to break 10 seconds.
Roto, 21, is now SA’s second-quickest 100m sprinter, above Henricho Bruintjies, Wayde van Niekerk and Simon Magakwe.
Manyonga, joint 12th on the all-time list, which is topped by American Mike Powell’s effort from 1991, is confident he can float to glory this year.
“If I can see what I’m jumping now it shows there’s something in my legs,” said Manyonga, who is aiming to win his maiden South African senior crown at the national championships in Potchefstroom next month.
The 2010 world junior champion lost the better part of four years, from early 2012 until the end of 2015, after struggling with a tik addiction that resulted in an 18-month suspension.
But he insists he had no regrets. “Everything was meant to happen like that. I’m just looking forward. I’m on the right track now.”