SuperSport Schools Plus

Booysen produces world-leading performance during Noordheuwel Top 15

By Hannes Nienaber , in Athletics | Featured Athletics | News Featured | Main , at 2024-02-08 Tags: ,

HEIDI BOOYSEN in action during the u16 shotput at the Noordheuwel Top 15 where she almost bettered the meeting record by a full meter. The learner from the Crawford Christian Academy participated as part of the invitational team at the event. PHOTO: Marius Nortjé

The outstanding performer during Wednesday’s annual Noordheuwel Top 15 athletics meeting was, without a doubt, Heidi Booysen of the Crawford Christian Academy.

Booysen produced two of the four performances during the meeting in Krugersdorp that accumulated the maximum possible 1 000 points on the Athletics Performance Evaluation (APE) Table.

Booysen had the crowd on the edge of their seats during the girls’ u16 shot put as she easily bettered the meeting record. Her longest put measured 17.50 metres, which improved on the previous mark, set by Alicia Khunou (Menlopark) in 2022, by a massive 99 centimetres.

Booysen’s attempt is also the best by a youth (u18) athlete worldwide so far in 2024. The second-best distance, achieved by Nafy Thiam (Belgium), is some way off Booysen’s monster distance, at 17.10m.

The world record (u18) for the event belongs to Corrie de Bruin of the Netherlands, who set an astounding mark of 20.52 m way back in 1993. Booysen will still be able to compete in the u18 age group next year.

She achieved 1 000 points in another discipline, the discus, with a 46.08 metre effort. That places Booysen fourth in the world this year. It was, however, not enough to break Alicia Khunou’s meeting record of 46.64m, which survives another year.

Menlopark’s Merle Janse van Rensburg also enjoyed a strong discus competition, capturing second place with a best of 43.15m.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Alicia Khunou also produced a 1 000-point performance for her winning throw of 50.44 metres in the u19 girls’ discus. Liandri de Wet, from Hoërskool Rustenburg, took second with an excellent throw of 47.08 meters, which still left her more than three metres adrift of Khunou.

Khunou added another gold in the shot put, within a winning distance of 14.80m. Mignon la Grange (Randburg, 13.47) and Kyla Nienaber (Noordheuwel, 12.39) took the silver and bronze medals respectively.

In the high jump for girls’ u19, Garsfontein’s Mia Janse van Rensburg (1.73m) edged closer to her personal best of 1.76m, which she achieved during last year’s Super Inter-High. Janse van Rensburg has already represented South Africa at senior level in the African Championships.

Affies’ Anje Bezuidenhout will also feel happy after her clearance of 1.70m in the u16 age group.

Janelle Kirkpatrick (u14) of Menlopark showed off her versatility once again, winning the 90m hurdles and capturing gold in the long jump with a best of 5.52m.

Potchefstroom Gimnasium’s Stephane Hook produced a superb performance in the u16 javelin for girls, launching her winning throw 43.06m.

Hannes Nienaber
error: Sorry ol' chap, those shenanigans are not permissible.