At 11:35 local time, Zakithi Nene and Lythe Pillay will compete in the men’s 400m heats. Nene set his personal best in May, clocking 43.76 seconds. He finished in the top eight at the Paris Olympic Games and is a World Athletics Relay champion. 

Pillay, a World Under-20 champion, is less well-known but boasts a personal best of 44.31 seconds over the distance.

Zeney van der Walt. Photo: Anton Geyser/Athletics South Africa

At 11:40, high jumper Brian Raats, ranked 34th in the world, will aim to qualify for the final. He achieved his personal best of 2.26m in 2022, while his season’s best this year is 2.21m, set in Slovakia in February.

At 12:25, two South African women will take to the track for the 400m heats. Shirley Nekhubui and Miranda Coetzee will both compete, with Nekhubui having been part of the 4x400m relay team that finished sixth in Saturday’s final. 

Her season’s best over 400 m is 51.28 seconds. Coetzee helped the relay team qualify for Saturday evening’s final, where Nekhubui replaced her.

Gift Leotela. Photo: Nic Bothma @Matrix Images/Athletics South Africa

In the men’s 100m semi-finals at 13:43, two of South Africa’s top sprinters, Akani Simbine and Gift Leotlela, will be in action. Both qualified from Saturday’s heats. 

Simbine holds the national record with a personal best of 9.82 seconds, set in August 2024, and has a 2025 season’s best of 9.90 seconds, recorded at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix in April. Leotlela ran a personal best of 9.87 seconds in his heat yesterday.

Should both athletes advance, the 100m final is set for 15:20.

Finally, long-distance runner Adriaan Wildschutt will compete in the 10 000m final at 14:30. Wildschutt’s personal best is 26:50.64, while his season’s best is 26:51.27. He is also the reigning South African champion over this distance.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg