East Cape sprint ace eyes world final
Eastern Cape-born Roto looks to become SA’s newest star at world championships
SOUTH African track ace Thando Roto, who originally hails from the Eastern Cape after having grown up in Dimbaza township near King William’s Town‚ is planning to spring a few surprises at the World Athletics Championships in London.
Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin head into the world championships in London this week sharing identical 100m season’s bests of 9.95sec with one other athlete – Roto.
Tuks student Roto said he was looking to pull off a surprise or two in this event.
Roto‚ who flew out with the SA-based members of the team last night‚ is scheduled to line up in the 100m heats in the opening session of the showpiece on Friday night (9.20pm SA time).
And he is planning to stick around for the semifinals and final‚ both scheduled for Saturday.
“I’m expecting to make the final‚” Roto‚ 21, said.
When fellow South African Akani Simbine flew into the top eight of the 100m at the Rio Games last year‚ he became the first South African to grace an Olympic final in 84 years.
No South African has reached the 100m final at a world championships to date – imagine Roto and Simbine settling into the blocks at 10.45pm on Saturday.
Wayde van Niekerk is not in this battle‚ concentrating instead on his 400m-200m double mission.
Roto set his 9.95 personal best at the Gauteng North championships in March‚ finishing second behind Simbine‚ who went 9.92.
Roto‚ who lost the better part of 2015 and 2013 to hamstring injuries‚ has been in the wings since the early days of SA’s sprint revolution‚ finishing sixth in the 2014 national championships, when Simon Magakwe went 9.98 to become the first local flyer to break 10.
Now he is the third-fastest of all time.
Roto grew up not far from Phakamisa township‚ the home of Anaso Jobodwana‚ the 200m bronze medallist at the 2015 world championships.
Roto started out playing soccer‚ rugby and cricket on the streets with the neighbourhood kids‚ sometimes with mouthwatering stakes.
“We made small bets‚” Roto said.
“Like for a packet of chips. Both teams would buy the packet and then we’d play.
“The winners would take the packet and go eat it.”
It was only in high school in Limpopo‚ after his mother had relocated to Pretoria‚ that he discovered his talent for speed.
Off his own bat, he applied to get into the Tuks high school and won a spot. The rest is history.
So how does he feel about facing legends like Bolt and Gatlin as well as the younger guns like Andre De Grasse and Yohan Blake.
“Racing those guys doesn’t worry me. “I’ve raced Akani and Wayde and they’re up there with them.” Wayde could steal some of Bolt’s light
USAIN Bolt’s farewell will be the major narrative at the IAAF World Championships but South African speedster Wayde van Niekerk’s bid for the 200m and 400m double could steal some of his spotlight. The Jamaican great has dubbed the 25-year-old Van Niekerk as the sport’s next superstar and that is likely to be reinforced at the global showpiece event in London, which starts on Friday.
But a showdown between the pair, who are good friends and trained together in Jamaica this year, will not happen, with Bolt running only the 100m and relay to mark the end of his glittering career.
“One person I know who will step up, and he’s been doing good work, is Van Niekerk,” Bolt said.
“He’s shown that he really wants to take my place.
“He’s been dominating in all events – I feel like if he runs the 800, he’d probably do well also.”
Bolt was speaking before the Diamond League meeting in Monaco last week in which Van Niekerk won the 400m with the best time of the year.
Cape Town-born Van Niekerk is the reigning world champion and he broke Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old world record to win Olympic Gold in Rio de Janeiro last year. All this in a race he dislikes. “I think most everyone knows that the 400m is not my favourite distance. I know it’s a bit crazy. I enjoy the shorter distances,” he said.
“I try to tell myself that I need to be more positive about the 400m; it is the race that has placed me at the top.”
This time Van Niekerk attempts the 200m400m double that marked out Johnson as the star of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics after the ruling body of world athletics changed the London programme to make it possible.
In June, he ran personal bests in both the 100m (9.94 seconds) and 200m (19.84) and a world record 30.81 in the rarely run 300m.
Van Niekerk is the only sprinter in history to have run the 100m in under 10 seconds, the 200m in under 20 and the 400m in sub 44.
“I’m in great shape. My record of 300m has given me confidence, so I look forward to seeing how it translates into the other two events,” Van Niekerk said.
His coach, Ans Botha, a 75-year-old grandmother, says they have been training for both events since last year’s Olympics.
Meanwhile, more than 600 blood samples will be collected ahead of the world championships to tackle doping.
Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) and UK Athletics said those samples would be used for Athlete Biological Passport profiling and to detect prohibited substances, such as human growth hormone.
A further 600 urine tests for detection purposes will also be conducted in competition “in order to detect a wide range of substances including EPO and steroids”.
“The Athletics Integrity Unit is pleased to announce a very comprehensive intelligencebased anti-doping programme for the IAAF World Championships,” AIU chairman David Howman said.
“What is key to this programme is the significant work that has been done by the unit and its partners in the 10 months leading up to the championships to ensure that athletes competing in London have been part of a robust testing programme.”