A new year brings new beginnings – and for Prudence Sekgodiso, a new South African record as well.
The 800m Paris Olympics finalist tried something different at the start of her 2025 season by competing on the indoor circuit for the first time in her career this week.
In her very first race, she broke the SA 800m indoor record with a time of 2:02.30 to finish fourth at the Belgrade Indoor Meeting – the second Gold level fixture on the World Athletics Indoor Tour – in Serbia on Wednesday.
Sekgodiso stormed to the front at the start on the tight indoor track, and actually led for most of the race.
But Italian athlete Eloisa Coiro put her foot down at just the right moment to clinch victory in a time of 2:01.98.
Sekgodiso was just pipped on the line by two other athletes, and had to settle for fourth position in her time of 2:02.30, eclipsing the previous SA mark of 2:06.05, set by Dominique Scott-Efurd in 2016.
“Thank you Serbia. 1st Indoor, National Record, Onto the next one,” Sekgodiso posted on her Instagram account, indicating that her next event will be an indoor meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany on February 7.
The 23-year-old from Limpopo will be eyeing a podium finish at this year’s world championships in Tokyo in September, having made the big leap by reaching the Olympic final in Paris last year.
In fact, she was hoping to push for a medal in that event as well, but things didn’t go her way as she ended eighth in a somewhat disappointing time of 1:58.79, having set a personal best of 1:57.26 in winning a Diamond League race in Morocco last May.
That time would’ve clinched a bronze medal ahead of Kenya’s Mary Moraa, who clocked 1:57.42 in the Olympic final, while champion Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain and Northern Ireland grabbed the gold medal in a superb effort of 1:56.72.
Sekgodiso was rewarded for a stellar 2024 season by being chosen as the Athlete Personality of the Year at the Athletics South Africa awards ceremony last Sunday.
But before the world championships in September, Sekgodiso will be aiming to get up to full speed on the indoor circuit and the SA season in March, before tackling the Diamond League meetings over the European summer.
Sekgodiso’s next goal would be to break through the 1:57 barrier this season, and edge ever closer to Caster Semenya’s remarkable 800m South African outdoor record of 1:54.25 – the fourth-fastest time in history.