Both of South Africa’s 400m hurdlers, Zeney Geldenhuys and Rogail Joseph, ran the races of their lives, but two respective personal best performances were still not fast enough to see them through to the Olympic final in Paris on Tuesday, 6 August, 2024.
Geldenhuys achieved her first-ever sub-54-second time, finishing third in her semifinal in 53.90 seconds while Joseph ran her second consecutive PB, also finishing third in her semifinal in a time of 54.12 seconds. With only the top two gaining automatic qualification into the final, the duo then had to wait to see whether they had done enough to progress.
As it turned out, the third semifinal proved to be a speedy one with both the third and fourth-placed athletes – Jamaica’s Shiann Salmon (53.13) and Canadian Savannah Sutherland (53.80) – going quicker than Geldenhuys and Joseph to claim the last two available places in the final.
An inconsolable Joseph was in tears afterwards, but still immensely proud of what she has achieved in Paris.
“It was a fight and I’m really proud of myself to be in the semifinal and it was another PB for me. But ja, it is just going to motivate me to work harder for next year’s world champs. I’m so proud of myself. It’s my first Olympics and I made the semifinal.”
South African Debut Olympian, 400mH star, SA Rogail Joseph
Meanwhile, Geldenhuys went from ecstasy to agony after being under the impression that she had made it through to the final, obviously not realising that two athletes had qualified ahead of her from the third semifinal.
She was only informed of the disappointing news that she’d missed out by one place by a member of Team SA after completing her media interviews.
Earlier in the day at the track, Miranda Coetzee, who had recovered from nausea, a pounding head and shortness of breath after her heat a day earlier, made the most of her second chance to reach the 400m semifinals in the repechage round. She finished second in a new personal best time of 50.66 to secure her spot in tomorrow night’s semis.
“I’m so happy with my race,” she said afterwards. I had a prayer in the bathroom before I ran. And I asked God to carry me through. I told him what I wanted and he did just that.
“My goal today was to execute a great race and I did. I stayed calm, collected and relaxed. I got a PB, qualified for world champs next year, and I’m going to the semis. I can’t thank God enough.
SA 400m Track Star, Miranda Coetzee
“My Olympic experience is going great – meeting new people, learning new things every day and swapping pins is amazing. The crowd is amazing and they cheer on everyone, it doesn’t matter which country you come from.”
Meanwhile, out at the Vaires-sur-Marne canoeing course, Tiffany Koch and Esti Olivier finished fifth in their K2 500m heat which meant they had to contest the quarterfinal rather than qualifying directly for the semifinal.
In their quarterfinal a few hours later the pair finished sixth in a time of 1:46.40. While that wasn’t enough to see them through to the semifinal, they were thrilled with their effort, particularly as they have spent very little time training together.
“It’s been great to finally get out on the water,” said Olivier afterwards. “The last two days we’ve been a bit edgy, wanting to go. This morning’s heat was a bit disappointing. I think the nerves just kind of kicked in there and we couldn’t quite find each other in the boat.”
“But the second race was much better. We did a PB I think we smashed it by three seconds.”
Koch added: “It’s good to end on that note although we didn’t qualify for the semis, it’s a bit disappointing, but at least we had a good race, so we can be proud of that.”
With Olivier based in Pretoria and Koch in Durban, time together in the boat has been scarce with the pair explaining they’ve only trained together once a month for two to three days each time since January.
“Compared to these crews we probably spend like one per cent of the time together that they’ve actually been putting in for this,” said Olivier.
“They eat, sleep, paddle all day long together,” added Koch. “We tried our best to get together as often as possible but with our work schedules and our funding it’s been a bit limited.”
The duo will now switch focus to the K1 1000m where expectation will be higher considering their separate training bases.
“K1 one for me personally definitely is a big one,” said Olivier, who missed out on the Olympics in both 2021 and 2016. “I’ve had a great lead-up and I’ve had some good results in the K1 over the last four years for the Olympic cycle, so I’m pretty stoked for it and excited to see what I can do.”
Koch added: “I’m also very excited to be given the opportunity to race the K1 event… So tomorrow we can both just go out there and give it our all and hope for a good race.”
Team South Africa’s Women’s Contingent and Paris 2024 Broadcast Updates
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Saturday, 27 July, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Sunday, 28 July, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Monday, 29 July, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Tuesday, 30 July, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Wednesday, 31 July, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Thursday, 1 August, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Friday, 2 August, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Saturday, 3 August, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Sunday, 4 August, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Monday, 5 August, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Results on Tuesday, 6 August, 2024
Climbing
Sport Climbing Women’s Combined – Lauren Mukheibir finishes in last place in the Sport Climbing – Women’s Boulder and Lead Semi-Final, with a total score of 0.00
Athletics
Athletics Repechage – Heat 2 Women’s 400m – Miranda Coetzee finishes in second place in with a time and personal best of 50:66, and advances to the Semi-Finals.
Canoeing
500m Kayak Doubles Heat – Tiffany Koch and Esti Oliver secured fifth place in Heat 2 with a time of 1:52.14, earning a spot in the Quarterfinals
500m Kayak Doubles Quarter-Finals – Tiffany Koch and Esti Olivier finish in sixth and final place in their Quarter-Final, and end their 500m Kayak Doubles campaign
Athletics
Athletics Women’s 400m hurdles Semi-Final 1 – Zeney Geldenhuys claims third place in a new personal best of 54.12, but did unfortunately did not advance to the next round
Athletics Women’s 400m hurdles Semi-Final 2 – Rogail Joseph claims third place in a new personal best of 53.90, and narrowly misses out on the Finals
Schedule of Events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Wednesday, 7 August, 2024
Golf
9:00: Women’s individual stroke play round one – Ashleigh Buhai, Paula Reto
Athletics
10:15AM: 100m Hurdles Round One – Marione Fourie (Heat 4)
Canoeing
9:30AM: Kayak Single 500m Heats – Esti Olivier (Heat 5), Tiffany Koch (Heat 6)
13:30PM: Kayak Single 500m quarter-finals – Tiffany Koch, Esti Olivier (TBC)
Diving
15:00PM: 3m Springboard prelims – Julia Vincent
Athletics
20:45: 400m Semi-Finals – Miranda Coetzee
Original Copy: Karien Jonckheere, with editing by gsport
Main Photo Caption: Miranda Coetzee finished in second place in with a time and personal best of 50:66 to advances to the 400m Semi-Finals at the Stade de France athletics stadium in Paris on Monday, 5 August, 2024. Photo: Anton Geyser / Team SA
Photo 2 Caption: Zeney Geldenhuys claimed third place in her in a new PB of 54.12, but did unfortunately did not advance to the next round. Photo: Anton Geyser / Team SA
Photo 3 Caption: Rogail Joseph finished her heat in third place in a new PB of 53.90, and narrowly misses out on the Finals. Photo: Anton Geyser / Team SA
Photo 4 Caption: Esti Olivier and Tiffany Koch end their K2 500m campaign at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium outside Paris on Tuesday, 6 August. Photo: Karien Jonckheere
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