1 month ago
104
In the end inexperience cost Prudence Sekgodiso on the biggest stage of all as she finished eighth in the women’s 800m final at the Paris Olympics on Monday night.
She had been in the race until the final 100 metres, and when the leaders stepped on the gas she had nothing left in the engine to go with them.
Pre-race favourite Keely Hodgkinson won in 1min 56.72sec, ahead of Ethiopian Tsige Duguma in a 1:57.15 personal best with Kenya’s Mary Moraa third in 1:57.42.
Sekgodiso crossed the line eighth in 1:58.79.
The 1:57.26 personal best she clocked in Marrakech earlier this year would have taken bronze, but her effort at Stade de France was the seventh fastest time of her career.
“The first 400 was slow for me,” Sekgodiso said afterwards.
“I feel like I wasted so much energy because I [was’] running lane two the whole time. And that’s my biggest mistake. I know my coach is going to fight with me about it.
“But yeah, it’s a lesson. I learned and I’m going to take it and move on.”
In the build-up to the Olympics Sekgodiso had said the final 100 metres of her race was one of her weak points and she proved it again on Monday.
“I was [in the race for 700 metres]. That was the plan, just to stick with the girls. And yeah, I’m not good in the final 100.
“But when I saw all the girls passing, I was like, ‘oh my word, what’s happening?’
“I’m just going to keep my head up and just finish the race. I’m so happy I made it to the final as well.”
Sekgodiso has much to enthuse about, but equally she needs to make the step up sooner rather than later.
Hodgkinson, the silver medallist at Tokyo 2020, is also 22. Duguma, 23, started running the 800m only last year and Moraa, 24, was competing at her first Olympics.
Sekgodiso insisted nerves hadn’t been the problem, explaining she had been more anxious before the heats than the final.
“I was used to the crowd. It was not in my mind this time around. My mind was just on my lane.”
Sekgodiso also pointed out that she had struggled running three rounds in four days, describing the schedule as hectic, and she battled to sleep after racing.
“Sleeping with sleeping pills has been a struggle as well. And waking up late during the day around three [3pm], it’s been a tough routine.”
She’s planning to race a Diamond League meet or two before the end of the season.
With her race out the way, Team South Africa has possibly only two medal shots remaining at these Games — in the two men’s relays, the 4x100m and 4x400m.
That’s assuming that Benjamin Richardson’s leg injury in the 200m heats on Monday was nothing more serious than a cramp, otherwise it might be only one shot.
