Many athletes are still competing inEurope, some in preparation for the CAA Africa Senior Championships inBenin(27 June – 1 July) and others striving towards the ultimate goal of qualifying for the Olympic Games.
Elroy Gelant is one of the latter and will be competing at the 17th International Athletics Meeting in Honour of Miners Day inVelenje,Slovenia, on Thursday.
Gelant will line up in the men’s 5 000m where he is aiming to run13:20in order to reach the first of the two qualifying times he needs.
The 25-year-old ran his personal best of 13:25.09 inUden,Netherlands, last year and got close to the same time on 20 March in Stellenbosch, clocking 13:25.98.
The field in this 5 000m race will consist mainly of athletes fromSloveniawith a few athletes fromNetherlands,HungaryandBrazil.
In the men’s 200m, Anaso Jobodwana will be looking for his second qualifier. Jobodwana will need to equal or dip under the 20.55sec qualifying mark again, having attained the Olympic Qualifying A-standard once before, in Oxford on 14 April (20.32sec).
The 19-year-old clocked 20.84sec at a meeting inLille,Franceon 9 June.
Wayde van Niekerk will be another South African athlete running in the race.
Other athletes to compete at this event include Johan Cronje and Rynhard van Rensburg in the men’s 1 500m, Claudia Viljoen in the women’s 110m hurdles, Estie Wittstock in the women’s 400m and the women’s long jump will have Patience Ntshingila.
