The Free State has a new athletics star in the making on the track following the recently Athletics South Africa Senior Track & Field Championships at the Msunduzi Athletics Stadium Pietermaritzburg last week.

Gabriella Marais is certainly a bright prospect and an athlete to keep an eye on after claiming the bronze medal in the senior women's 100m sprint.

Marais, who attended St Michael's School in Bloemfontein, impressed by finishing third at the national championships in a time of 11.67. Viwe Jingqi of North West won the 100m title in a time of 11.23, while Tamzin Thomas, also of North West, took the silver in a time of 11.47.

To add to that, Marais also won the under-23 100m bronze in 11.77 and under-23 200m bronze in 24.13 at the Junior Nationals and U23 Championship at Pilditch in Pretoria, while during the recent USSA Championships in Stellenbosch she won the 100m silver.

Considering that Marais' background is actually hockey, these are impressive results indeed. It also comes as no surprise at all that the talented speedster, who runs under the banner of the University of the Free State, is under the guidance of and coached by the world-famous tannie Ans Botha. Botha is famous for guiding Wayde van Niekerk to his 400m world record time of 43.03 for the Olympic gold during the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Marais and Botha have only been working together since October 2023 and she had no winter training.

Botha told Bloemfontein Courant that Marais surprised her and she is very excited about the future of this rookie sprinter.

"For me, it was an unbelievable surprise because she only joined me in October, and I'm not lying when I say that we started from scratch," said Botha.

"She is incredibly dedicated and she has a passion for this sport that is second to none. This is what makes it very pleasing for me. When you help her and point out a mistake or show her what she can improve on, she gives absolutely everything to do what you ask of her. It's incredible what she has been able to achieve in the past six months."

For now, the focus between athlete and coach will be on the 100m sprint.

Meanwhile, in the discus for women, Yolandi Stander, won the gold for women for the Free State with a throw of 55 metres. She beat her fellow Free State athlete, Miné de Klerk, who studies at the University of Nebraska in the USA. The former junior world champion, De Klerk, took the silver with a throw of 52.55m. De Klerk also claimed the silver in the shot put for women with a heave of 17.14m. This was just 13cm shy of the winning heave by Ashley Erasmus, who won with a distance of 17.27m.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport