And there were personal bests for both HPC athletes, a new mark for Horn and with Bruintjies equalling his. Horn raced to a new personal best of 7.19sec as she took fifth in a power-packed field at the ISTAF meeting while Bruintjies was second behind St Kitts and Nevis veteran Kim Collins in 6.62.
Last year’s IAAF World Championships 200m champion Dafne Schippers won the women’s dash in 7.00 from African Games sprint champion Marie Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast in 7.06.
Said Bruintjies ahead of his return to South Africa this week. “Today was a good outing got another 6.62… wasn’t a bad run and I’m happy but not satisfied. A lot more work to be done. Thanks for everyone that’s supporting me.”
As for Horn… well, she very nearly missed out on the final after her heats.
“The heats weren’t great, my start wasn’t great. Also, I’ve been since I got here and although it’s better I’ve still got a bit of a cold. So, after the heats, I hurt my knee running into the cushioning so all in all I was quite negative and really thought about just heading back to SA.
“I didn’t think I was in the final so at around 7.20 local time I thought ‘let me go and see who’s in the final’ and there I saw my name! I was so surprised and had to ask the official to complain and she told me the final was at 7.40 which didn’t give me much time.’
“I was just so glad to break the 7.20 barrier. It feels great. But although I’m very happy, I’m still not satisfied and there’s lots more to come. Now I’m looking forward to training for the outdoor season.”
Source: African News Agency (ANA)
