Athletics South Africa (ASA) today announced that, on the eve of their departure to the World Youth Championships in Ostrava, a combined team of forty-nine athletes is confident to finish in the top five on the medal table, for the first time since the inaugural World Youth Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 1991.
At the inaugural event, the SA team won eight medals, and since then they have brought home five medals at each subsequent World Youth Championships event, and the ASA is optimistic that they can once again finish in top five in the medal rankings.
In order to achieve the ranking, the youth team will rely heavily on the field events, in particular the girl’s javelin.
Tazmin Brits is an athlete who had a massive improvement in her performance recently, including a new personal best of 50.74m recorded earlier this year, which she threw to win silver in the Javelin at the SA Schools Championships.
At the South African Youth Championships, she surprised all by claiming Gold and improving her best to 51.70m. But it was at the Southern Region Youth Championships that she came into her own.
The 16 year old sent the javelin to a new best of 56.55m, an improvement of almost 5 metres! Two years ago that would have won Brits a silver medal at the Championships.
Brits is expected to be a hugely influential member of the team, and her good performances will motivate the South African team, to once again finish in the top five Medal positions at the World Youth Championships.
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