Steenkamp faces steep Olympic qualifying hurdle

SHORT-SPRINT hurdles ace Rikenette Steenkamp will have to break her national record for a place at this year’s IAAF World Championships and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Challenge accepted, is Steenkamp’s response to the harsh qualifying standards Athletics SA (ASA) has set in the 100m hurdles event.

“It is almost a bit unfair because we’ve never had a senior woman in the history of the event at the world championships or at the Olympic Games,” Steenkamp,

said.

“I feel if you run a 12.8 you deserve to be there. You don’t want to go if you can only manage a 13.4 but the goal has been to run a 12.7 in any case.”

The IAAF has released the qualifying standards for the Tokyo Games which has been considered harsh among some in the athletics world.

Short-sprint hurdlers, in particular, have to jump through hoops to secure their places for the quadrennial showpiece with the qualifying time set at 12.84 seconds.

The required time is faster than the standard of 13.00 for the Rio Olympic Games.

But it pales in comparison to what ASA expects from the 100m hurdles, setting the qualifying mark at 12.77.

Steenkamp would have to shave 0.04s off the South African record she set in Switzerland last July.

The 26-year-old will open her season this weekend at the Gauteng North Championships at the Tuks track in Pretoria.

“I haven’t done that much hurdles work in training…I feel good but with the first race you never know exactly in what shape you are in,” Steenkamp said.

“I would like to be racing low 13-second times and obviously you want to post a fast time but a clean race is more important.”

Steenkamp suffered a pre-season back injury while swimming in the ocean.

“I was out for six weeks and that is one of the reasons I only recently started doing hurdles sessions,” Steenkamp said.

“I got a massive scare considering the timing of the injury.”