Nel aims to finish on a high
WENDA Nel's best finish at the world championships is seventh in 2015, but this year, she hopes to just qualify for the event before hanging up her spikes.
The nine-time South African 400m hurdles champion announced on the Tuks Sport website this week that she will retire at the end of the year after a superb career spanning 13 seasons.
After the athletics world championships from July 15-24 in Eugene, Oregon, Nel will hope to finish off in style at the Commonwealth Games, where she claimed a bronze medal in the 2018 edition in Australia.
“The plan was actually to retire last year, but throughout the season, there were so many uncertainties. Even after I had qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games, nothing was certain. It felt like the Games could be cancelled at any moment. To make a long story short, my last race in 2021 (Olympic semi-final, where she finished seventh in 56.35) was an anti-climax. I did not want to end my hurdling career like that,” Nel told Tuks Sport.
“It would be nice to compete one more time at the (Commonwealth) Games and maybe a world champs. Who knows, I might even get to run a final.
“But it is going to be about first things first. Before I can dream, I must qualify. There are never any guarantees in sport.”
Nel's toughest competition locally is likely to come at the South African championships in April from Zeney van der Walt, Taylon Bieldt and Gezelle Magerman.
“Every athlete hopes to end their career with that one final outstanding performance, but I am not obsessing about it. It is more important to savour every moment on the track,” Nel said.
“If I run the slowest time of my career in my last race, I will not consider myself a failure. I am at peace as to how my career played out. I consider 2022 as a blessing to my athletics journey.”