Moorosi Tsiane
TRIPLE jumper Lerato Sechele has said her preparations for the upcoming African Seniors Championships are on track after jumping 13, 46 metres to win the Potchefstroom Meeting last weekend.
The African Seniors Championships are penned in for either May or June 2021 in Algiers, Algeria. The games were initially set for 24 to 28 June 2020 but were postponed to this year on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sechele qualified for the tournament in February last year during the Free State Athletics Championships in Bloemfontein.
In her debut participation in the African Championships in Nigeria in 2018, Sechele brought home a bronze medal
The 27-year-old track and field events athlete told the Lesotho Times this week that she was content with her performance as she is still targeting a Tokyo Olympics qualification. The Olympics will be held from 23 July to 8 August this year.
“There are still several Olympics qualifiers that I am eyeing but for now, the target is the upcoming African Senior championships,” Sechele said.
“I want to do well and surpass my 2019 performance.”
This was Sechele’s third competition this year and her performance has been improving after a long Covid-19-induced lay-off.
In her first competition in Sasolburg early this year, Sechele jumped 12.98 metres and later improved to jump 13.08 in Free State.
“It has not been an easy journey because of the long lay-off during which movement between countries was restricted but I am happy with my performance so far because it has been improving.”
Sechele is among athletes who are on the Olympic Solidarity scholarship and is based at the University of Free State High Performance Training Centre where she spends three weeks monthly and one week back home.
