It was a historical outing for 20-year old South African sprinting prodigy, Clarence Munyai, on Day 2 of the 2018 ASA Senior Championships held at Tuks Stadium in Pretoria.
The reigning African Junior Champion in the 200m, narrowly missed Frankie Fredericks African Record set at Atlanta ’96 by just 0.01s while competing in the semis on Friday, racing to a scorching time of 19.69s to erase the former National Record (NR) of 19.84s, and compatriot Anaso Jobodwana’s World Lead (WL) of 20.13s.
His mark puts him on 10th position on the all-time list. Speaking with reporters after his race, Munyai, who is the World Junior Record (WJR) holder in the 300m, said: “I knew I had 19.8s in my legs and that was what I expected to run today, but when I saw the time, I wasn’t expecting that, so I am happy.
“I am just 20 and I did 19.6s, so I consider that an achievement. It will put some pressure because now that I have run 19.6s, people will be expecting those types of times when I compete outside as well, so I will have to step up my game. Hopefully, I will be able to do same at the Commonwealth Games.”
Three national records fell on an action-packed opening day of the ASA Senior Championships, with sprinters keeping fans on the edge of their seats at Tuks Stadium, Tshwane on Thursday.
In the women’s 100m semis, Carina Horn smashed the national mark of 11.06s which had stood since 1990, storming across the line in 11.03s. Horn had jointly held the previous record with retired speedster Evette de Klerk.
In the men’s 100m semi-finals, while Roscoe Engel clocked the fastest time of 10.06s, Thando Dlodlo stole the spotlight by crossing the line in 10.11s in 2nd place, taking 0.01s off the SA Junior 100m record which was previously held by Gift Leotlela.
Dlodlo went on to anchor the SA Junior Invitation Team in the 4x100m relay final, taking 1st place in 39.46s to break the national U-20 record of 39.59s.
