Prudence Sekgodiso equalled her SA 800m indoor record in France. Photo: AFP
It was a night to remember for South African athletics at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin, France on Thursday.
Olympic 800m finalist Prudence Sekgodiso continued her glorious charge in what is her first season on the indoor circuit as she equalled her SA record.
World indoor 800m champion Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia was just too good on the night, taking the honours in a time of one minute 59.02 seconds (1:59.02).
L éthiopienne Tsige Duguma remporte le 800m en 1'59"02@WorldAthletics #WorldIndoorTour #gold 💫 @LigueHDFA pic.twitter.com/SJ5ogQ1gx6
— Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais (@Meeting_Lievin) February 13, 2025
But she was closely followed by South Africa’s Sekgodiso, who clocked 1:59.88 to finish second and produce the same time she ran in winning the Karlsruhe event last week.
“Happy with my second position. NR (national record) = couldn’t be more proud,” Sekgodiso posted on her Instagram stories.
“Home time to get some work done!!”
But the celebrations for Mzansi didn’t end there, as Tshite ran the race of his life to set a new SA indoor record in the mile.
Norway’s middle-distance superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen was up to his usual tricks again as he earmarked breaking the world record in the mile, which had been set just last week by American Yared Nuguse in New York.
With pace-setters in place, Ingebrigtsen settled into a strong early rhythm, and right behind him was South Africa’s Tshite.
Ingebrigtsen stormed through the final few laps to set a new world record of 3:45.14, more than a second quicker than Nuguse’s effort of 3:46.63.
The 28-year-old Tshite largely kept up with the front-runners for most of the race, and managed to finish fifth in a superb time of 3:54.10, surpassing his previous personal best of 3:54.56.
Meanwhile, SA sprint star Akani Simbine will make his international indoor debut when he lines up in a 60m race in Berlin on Friday night.
Simbine, who finished fourth in the Paris Olympics 100m final last year, as well as anchoring the SA 4x100m relay team to a silver medal, is trying something different in 2025 as part of his build-up to the world championships in Tokyo in September.
He normally begins his schedule with a few races in South Africa, culminating in the national championships before moving on to Europe for the Diamond League meetings.
But the 31-year-old speedster will hope that competing in the indoor arena will result in shaving a few more hundredths of a second off his South African record of 9.82.
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