It was happy landings on Tuesday morning for the successfull South African team from World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.
The national team returned home to a small but vibrant group of supporters after securing two medals.
At the biennial showpiece, Prudence Sekgodiso secured gold in the women's 800m race, while Akani Simbine earned bronze in the men's 60m sprint.
Sekgodiso admitted she was surprised to have won the global title, after launching a stunning kick on the final lap to clock 1:58.40, setting the fastest time in the world this year on that day and breaking her own short track national record.
🇿🇦 Team SA is back from Nanjing!
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) March 25, 2025
Our athletes have returned from the World Indoor Championships in China—bringing home 2 medals.🥇🥉
Congratulations to the entire team for their hard work and dedication.🔥#TeamSA #ForMyCountry pic.twitter.com/PrEevEkjSb
"I knew I was going to medal, but the gold medal came as a shock," Sekgodiso said after arriving home.
"The competition was amazing, and I thought the Ethiopian athletes would win, but here I am as the world indoor champion.
"On the outdoor circuit this year I think I will do even better. The plan is to run 1:55 by the end of this year, so now I'm going back to my training and I think everything will come together."
Simbine, who like Sekgodiso, was making his debut at the Indoor Championships, was delighted with his result.
The experienced sprinter clocked 6.53 seconds, equalling his personal best to take third place in the 60m final.
"My coach and I decided to do indoors for the first time this season, but for us it was more a case of trying to figure something out with my start," Simbine said.
"So we went into this World Championships saying 'we'll just see what happens and figure it out round by round'.
"We didn't have any expectations because there are people who are 60m specialists. But it went really well and I came back with my first global individual medal, which is really great. It doesn't describe my career, though, because there are still more medals I want to get and more things I want to achieve, but this is a great confidence booster for me and my team."
Cheswill Johnson, who didn't make it to the podium in his beloved long jump, said: "The body just does that at times and just refuse to cooperate. I agree that in my last jump I did so well and then disappointed when I was at the Indoors.
"I have done well on other times at the World stage, beating some of the top performers, but it points at the fact that I need my personal coach next to me when travelling overseas. Long jump is too specialised and I my coach to correct me on things I do, but I cannot see."
Team manager Tracy Olivier was equally pleased with the SA squad's results, as two of the four athletes in the team returned home with medals around their necks. "It was a very good championship.
"Obviously we have brought back medals, so it was very successful for us," Olivier said. "It's also very rewarding and encouraging to see how popular the South African athletes are in China.
"The people kept stopping our athletes to greet them and ask for photos. So we were well represented as a country and we can be very proud of our athletes, and thank you to Athletics South Africa for giving them this opportunity."
Present at OR Tambo International on Tuesday morning to welcome the team, was Athletics South Africa president, James Moloi, who said he expected more SA athletes to compete on the international indoor circuit in future, based on the success of Sekgodiso and Simbine.
"Our athletes have performed very well. It was the first time Akani and Prudence were running the World Athletics Indoor Championships, and they did not let us down. They were excellent," Moloi said. "After these results that were achieved, I think we might have more athletes competing on the indoor circuit in the years to come."