With a place in the South African team to the World Championships in Berlin in August at stake indications are that the country's best athletes will go all out to reach the IAAF A qualifying standard which will ensure their selection.
It was proven that the athletes are ready for the challenge at the last Yellow Pages Series meeting in Germiston last Friday when ten athletes reached the IAAF B qualifying standard. Four other athletes that qualified IAAF A standard are Sunette Viljoen (javelin), Khotso Mokoena (long jump), Ruben Ramolefi ( 3000m steeplechase) and Janice Josephs (long jump).
Some mouth watering duels will be on the menu in Stellenbosch. Mokoena, still smarting from his surprise defeat at the hands of Keenan Watson in last year's Championships, will not only seek revenge but he will also have to contend with the presence of one of Africa's best long jumpers, Ndiss Kaba Badje from Senegal.
Badje has a best distance of 8,20m to his credit and finished sixth last year at the Beijing Olympic Games with a distance of 8,16m. He will definitely bring out the best in Mokoena.
The sprints for both men and women will produce exciting duels. In the men's races Thuso Mpuang, Kagiso Kumbane, Hannes Dreyer, Leigh Julius and Thabo Mathibedi will vie for honours while Tsholofelo Thipe and Isabel le Roux will again battle it out in the women's sprints.
All eyes will also be on the middle distances' new find, Caster Semenya, will be out not only to qualify in the women's 800m but will also strive to become only the fifth South African woman athlete to go under 2 minutes in the event. At Germiston she became the fifth fastest South African woman over the distance ever with a time of 2:00, 58.
Experienced Mbulaeni Mulaudzi will start the 800m for men as favourite but he will have to fend off the challenge of the younger generation, Samson Ngoepe, Adriaan van Wyk and Andre Olivier. The experienced record holder, Hezekiel Sepeng, who is on the comeback trail, lurks dangerously and can upset their plans. Their battle can produce one of the best 800m races for a long time.
Juan van Deventer established himself last year as the country's leading 1500m runner and his performance will also be closely watched. He is capable of producing one of the fastest 1500m times for a long time in South Africa.
In other field events Janice Josephs, Janus Robberts, Sunette Viljoen, Robert Oosthuizen and Elizna Naude can all produce outstanding performances.
Josephs, after her 6,75m jump in the long jump in Port Elizabeth will be looking for another world class performance, Robberts, with his distance of 20,20m in the shot put at the same track in the Yellow Pages Series, needs only a further 10 centimetres to qualify, Naude's recent performances in the discus suggested that a throw of over 60 metres is on the cards while Oosthuizen, on his home track, will want to produce a throw of well over 80 metres in the javelin.
Viljoen's performances in the javelin during the Series have been outstanding and a new South African record is well within her grasp.
All in all this year's Championships can be one of the best in a long time.
The programme at Coetzenburg Stadium starts at 10:00 on Friday and will continue until 18:00. On Saturday the programme already starts at 06:00 with the 20km walk with the track programme starting at 09:00 until17:15.
