Ladies 200m Oudtshoorn Promise

All eyes will be on the ladies 200m in Oudtshoorn for the fourth of the Yellow Pages Ultimate Athletics on Saturday 17 February, as the race promises to be one full of drama and tension with a top-class field assembled including Estie Wittstock, Tsholofelo Selemela and unbeaten 100m sprinter Cindy Stewart.

Throw into Heide Seyerling that mix, and the 200m for ladies should be one of the highlights of the meeting.

Wittstock and Selemela are 400m rivals. The two have been avoiding each other this year, with Estie running and winning the 200m in Secunda, and the 400m in both Potchefstroom and PE.

Selemela ran the 800m in Secunda, almost causing an upset by pushing Lebogang Phalula right to the line, and the 100m in Potchefstroom, finishing second behind Cindy Stewart.

Wittstock and Selemela met the last time in November last year at the Prisma Comms meeting in Pretoria where Selemela had the upper hand.

Wittstock should be the favourite after her win in atrocious conditions for sprinting in PE last week, beating Cindy Stewart and Heide Seyerling into second and third.

Stewart is more of a 100m athlete, whereas Seyerling has been keeping a low profile for the last few months. It wasn’t an easy victory though, Wittstock only coming through in the final 30m.

Selemela will be in unchartered territory in the 200m for this year, but is a gutsy competitor who is going to push Wittstock in both the 200 and 400m in 2007.

In head to head meetings between Wittstock and Selemela, Wittstock is just ahead of Selemela. The two met five times in 2006 with Wittstock winning three of the five races.

Wittstock also posted the faster times throughout the year in the 200m and 400m (23.53 to 25.04 and 52.49 to 52.69). Both athletes represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games, with Estie progressing to the Semi Finals.

In terms of experience, Wittstock should have the upper hand, but it is common knowledge that once the athletes get onto the track it is not the formbook that rules, but the athlete with the biggest heart.