After breaking the African record in the first-round heats, the national mixed 4x400m relay team went on to finish sixth in the final on Day 1 of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday.
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In the early session, Gardeo Isaacs, Miranda Coetzee, Leendert Koekemoer and Zeney van der Walt combined well to take third place in their heat in 3:11.16, shattering the continental mark of 3:11.88 set by Kenya in Nairobi in June last year.
Returning to the track for the final in the late session, there was one change to the team, with Shirley Nekhubui replacing Coetzee, and the quartet clocked 3:11.89 for sixth place.
The United States won gold in 3:08.80, equalling the championship record.
In the opening round of the men's 100m sprint, national champion Gift Leotlela and SA record holder Akani Simbine both won their heats.
Leotlela clocked 9.87 seconds, setting a personal best, and Simbine stopped the clock in 10.02, with both athletes booking their places in the semifinals to be held on Sunday (1.45pm SA time).
"I had a good start and went through my phases correctly," said Leotlela, who took 0.07 off his four-year-old personal best of 9.94.
"My coach (Thabo Matebedi) just wants me to execute every round, and we know the (fast) times are there because we've been training really well, and it came in the first round.
"This gives me a lot of confidence, but my expectations are not sky high right now. We're still keeping it low, focusing on ourselves and focusing on the next race, and then we'll see."
🚀 9.87s of pure brilliance!
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) September 13, 2025
Gift Leotlela storms to victory in Heat 1 of the men’s 100m at the Tokyo 2025 World Championships, clocking a new personal best and announcing himself among the world’s fastest. ⚡🇿🇦
The stage is set — and South Africa’s sprint star is just getting… pic.twitter.com/DjadBtf6KY
In other events, national record holder Jessica Groenewald finished 34th in the women's 35km walk in 3:16:03.
Aiden Smith was 26th overall in the qualifying round of the men's shot put with a best throw of 19.32m, and Chris van Niekerk was 30th with a heave of 18.81m.
Danielle Nolte took 34th position in the women's long jump qualifying round with a 5.79m leap.
"We'll take the positives that came out of the opening day and move on with it," reasoned Athletics South Africa President, James Moloi. "In competition somebody celebrates, while counts the cost.
"The standout performance for us has to be Gift when measured through sub-10 personal best. We have qualified for the semifinals and we are content with that."
Schedule of SA athletes competing on day two (Sunday, 14 September):
Early session:
2.35am – 1 500m men, heats (Tshepo Tshite, Ryan Mphahlele)
4.28am – 100m hurdles women, heats (Marione Fourie).
Late session:
11.35am – 400m men, heats (Zakithi Nene, Lythe Pillay)
11.40am – high jump men, qualification (Brian Raats)
12.25pm – 400m women, heats (Shirley Nekhubui, Miranda Coetzee)
1.43pm – 100m men, semifinals (Akani Simbine, Gift Leotlela)
2.30pm – 10 000m men, final (Adriaan Wildschutt)
3.20pm – 100m men, final (Simbine, Leotlela)