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South Africa’s chance for more medals looks far more realistic than when Johan Cronje brought home a 1 500m bronze from the IAAF World Championships in Russia two years ago.
This has been the best year by far for South African athletics, and anything can still happen at the International Association of Athletics Federations event.
Reaching a sub-9.9 time in the 100m might still be a work in progress for the likes of Anaso Jobodwana, Akani Simbine and Henricho Bruintjies, but they are sure bets to go beyond the first round at the global showpiece that starts in Beijing, China, on Saturday.
Standing in the trio’s way are Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, along with America’s Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay, who are among the supermen set to line up in the 100m and 200m dash. Bolt is the defending champion of the two events.
However, in the form of 400m sensation Wayde van Niekerk, South Africa may be on the brink of ushering in its first world championships sprint medallist.
The 23-year-old already paced himself with the man to beat in Beijing – Kirani James, the Grenada phenomenon who has been a dominant force in the one-lap event over the past few years.
This new generation of sprinters is also in good shape to contend for a medal in the popular 4x100m relay.
Then there is Caster Semenya, who has picked up 800m medals from all her appearances on the big stage since making her senior debut in 2009.
There should be little threat from her longtime Russian opposition, as they are still reeling from doping accusations levelled against the country’s top athletes.
The Kenyans fancy their chances, but former world champion Semenya knows what a championship medal tastes like.
The Limpopo-born runner might be heading to Beijing without having breached the two-minute mark this year, but Semenya is made of stern stuff, something the Kenyans can attest to.
South Africa is loaded in the men’s long jump, with three chances for a medal.
Khotso Mokoena, Zarck Visser and Ruswahl Samaai pulled a 1-2-3 finish at the African Championships in Morocco a year ago.
Mokoena is yet to go over the 8.2m mark. But the “Croc”, as he is known to his peers, often produces the biggest bite on the big stage and has one world champs medal to show from the 2009 edition.
The trio have American champion Jeff Henderson to contend with.
He will arrive in Beijing as the world’s leading long jumper, having posted a leap of 8.52m late last month.
Visser is not far off, with a season best of 8.41m. And Samaai started the season with a monstrous 8.38m jump. These are all medal-winning distances
