Hot Bruintjies breathing fire
SASOLBURG: 100M STAR TO OPEN THE TAPS ON TUESDAY
Wesley Bo on
After rushing into the 2016 season and struggling to find his best form, Henricho Bruintjies has taken a more cautious approach to the 2017 campaign and the former national 100m record holder says he is ready to set the track on fire.
While every other contender for the SA short-sprint title in Potchefstroom next month has competed this season, the defending champion has yet to really show his cards.
He clocked 21.01 in a rare appearance over 200m at the Gauteng North provincial championships last week, and he ran the opening leg of the national squad’s impressive 38.47 victory at the ASA Speed Series meeting in Germiston on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old will open full taps for the first time this year, however, when he turns out in the 100m contest at a permit meeting in Sasolburg on Tuesday.
“I was all over the place last year, trying to do this and that and fix mistakes,” Bruintjies said.
“I decided to go back to the drawing board and take the time to prepare 100%.
“Now I’m going to do three or four races before the SA Championships, and I’ll come out blasting at nationals.”
Bruintjies clocked 9.97 in La Chaux-de-Fonds in July 2015 to break the SA 100m record, and though he beat Akani Simbine to win the national title last season, he has not run faster than 10.11 in nearly two years.
Despite Simbine (9.92) and Thando Roto (9.95) leading the charge in the early stages of the season, Bruintjies remained confident he could put up a fight in defence of his national crown.
“If you put in the work, you know at the end of the month you’re going to get your salary ... so I’ve been putting in the overtime, and I just want to go out on the track and get my payment.”