Sprinters Gift Leotlela and Joviale Mbisha successfully defended their national 100m titles, and distance runner Tayla Kavanagh produced a spectacular effort to win the women's 5 000m gold medal, on opening day of the ASA Senior Track & Field Championships at Coetzenburg Stadium in Stellenbosch, Cape Town on Thursday.
In the men's 100m final, Leotlela earned gold for Athletics Gauteng North (AGN), edging Athletics Central North West (ACNW) athlete Benjamin Richardson on the line. Leotlela completed the race in 10.15 seconds, just 0.01 ahead of Richardson (10.16), with ACNW speedster Bradley Nkoana snatching the bronze medal in 10.26.
"Winning the ASA Championships back-to-back means a lot, and it shows that we are building momentum from last year going into this season," Leotlela said.
Mbisha had to dig even deeper than Leotlela to win the women's 100m final.
The Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) sprinter dipped on the line in 11.55, with former SA champion Viwe Jingqi (ACNW) credited with the same time in second place. Gabriella Marais grabbed bronze in 11.72 in the colours of Athletics Free State (AFS).
"Usually I go into races (at national level) as an underdog, but I don't view myself as an underdog. Maybe other people do, but I always back myself," Mbisha said. "I'm very happy to run with all the girls in a full line-up, and it feels amazing to win again."
Kavanagh was superb in the women's 5 000m final, completely outclassing her opposition as she stormed to victory in a personal best of 14:58.52 after setting a relentless pace that left everyone else struggling to keep up, earning gold for KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) and climbing to second place in the all-time national rankings over the 5 000m distance.
Kyla Jacobs, turning out for Western Province Athletics (WPA) took the runner-up spot in 15:36.33.
"I ran a really big PB today, so it was nice to get that, but also nice to know I was pretty close to the national record (14:44.05 held by Elana Meyer). I think sometimes athletes can be a little bit sad at the end, saying 'I just missed it' but I'm quite happy to walk away with a personal best and to know how close I was to the record," Kavanagh said.
"It keeps me excited to know what I can do, so I'm going to try not be too upset about that and rather celebrate how close I was, and maybe that's the next goal. You always got to keep that in sight and just be proud of what you've done."
MULAUDZI DOMINATES TRACK FINAL
In the only other track final on the day, Kabelo Mulaudzi (CGA) won the men's 10 000m contest in 28:52.56. In field events, World University games champion Aiden Smith (CGA) won the men's shot put with a 20.51m throw, while Douw Smit (ACNW) retained his javelin throw title with a best attempt of 80.88m, and Valco van Wyk (ACNW) took the men's pole vault after clearing the bar at 5.10m, earning his seventh national title.
Versatile athlete Colette Uys (AGN) secured gold in the women's discus throw, landing the implement at 57.86m, which was more than five metres further than her nearest opponent.
After the first day of competition, the AGN team led the overall standings with a total of six medals (four gold and two silver).
The CGA squad were lying second with three medals (all gold) and the ACNW team were third with seven medals (two gold, three silver and two bronze).