Coetzee won silver for South Africa at the Games on Monday during the T11 1500m for women for her first medal at a major sporting event.

On Sunday the Bloemfontein athlete will run the 42.2km marathon with Claus Kempen. Kempen is a multiple Comrades Marathon finisher and is well-known in the running circles in Bloemfontein.

Coetzee has a personal best of 3:13:41, which is just 46 seconds slower than the world record and she told OFM Sport that the feat is not impossible.

“We are running in Tokyo, so we will be running different to the one in the Olympics.

“The route does also look flat. Kempen went to have a look at the route.

“We're very excited and I don't have specific expectations.

“I'm just looking forward to having the whole experience with the focus having been specifically on the track.

“We checked the world record and it's actually not that much faster. It stands at 3:12:55.”

The marathon starts at 23:30 on Saturday evening (South African time).

@MorganPiek OFM Sport