South Africa's Prudence Sekgodiso competes in the women's 800m heats during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest FILE. Team SA’s Prudence Sekgodiso may have already achieved her goal at the Paris Olympics, but she may just have one more surprise in store in the women’s 800m final. Picture: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP
The stage will be set on Monday evening, for Team SA’s Prudence Sekgodiso to spring a surprise in the final of the women’s 800m at the Paris Olympics.
Sekgodiso, 22, ahead of the Olympics had run the fastest time in the world this season in the two-lap event.
The rising star powered to victory in a personal best of 1:57.26 at the Diamond League meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, in May. That performance from Sekgodiso saw her earmarked as a genuine medal contender in Paris.
Coming through the qualifying heats unscathed as she clocked 1:57.57 in her semi to finish second behind Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, Sekgodiso was emotional after she qualified for the final.
“I don’t want to say anything, I just want to go to my coach and cry with him” - An emotional Prudence Sekgodiso after finishing second in the #Paris2024 800m Heat 3 to automatically qualify for the final #gsportGlobal pic.twitter.com/1DaANWzGyG
— gsport4girls (@gsport4girls) August 4, 2024
Before the Olympics, Sekgodiso said it had been her goal to make the final of the quadrennial showpiece. With that objective accomplished, a flood of relief washed over the youngster on Sunday.
“I’m just emotional, I don’t want to say anything ... I don’t want to say much,” Sekgodiso said after the race. “I just want to go to my coach and cry with him after all the hard work we put in.
“It means a lot, I just made it to the final with a ‘big Q’. That is huge, hey. I just want to go to my coach and go rest.”
South Africa is no stranger to success in the women’s 800m, with Caster Semenya having reigned supreme at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games with gold at both editions.
While Semenya would have been the favourite on those occasions, Sekgodiso will go into the final as much more of a dark horse.
If the race is a tactical affair, Sekgodiso could even have the potential to not just medal but to pull off a victory.
After Akani Simbine ran a personal best and SA record in the closest-ever finish in a men’s 100m to agonisingly miss out on a podium position on Sunday, Team SA will hope he used up all the bad luck as Sekgodiso chases her own piece of history.