Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - Paralympian Samkelo Radebe finished this week's Nedbank National Championships for Physically Disabled with two A-standard qualifying times for the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France.
On Monday night Radebe pushed fellow Paralympian Arnu Fourie hard in the 200m in Pretoria, while his race in the 100m was a lot easier, as he coasted to a comfortable victory.
"It's always an honour to run with him (Fourie) and I needed him to qualify, because I know that he is fast enough to help me get an A qualifying time," Radebe said.
"I also got the A qualifying standard for the 100m and I'm happy about that.
"I feel I could have been faster, but it's just one of those things. It wasn't meant to be."
After winning gold as part of the 4x100m relay team at last year's London Paralympic Games - with Fourie, Oscar Pistorius and Zivan Smith - the Soweto-born runner, who lost both his forearms when his kite got caught in electrical wires as a child, said he was focussed on the world championships in July.
"We took a bit of time off to recover from the madness of the Paralympics," Radebe said.
"It was amazing but we're back on track now, training for the world championships to do well there.
"I think I need to work on speed and endurance... everything else is there, but I need that to make a good impression so I can make the team for the world championships."
There was one tinge of sadness as the 4x100 relay team failed in their bid for a qualification time, but Radebe said it was a priority for him and his team-mates.
"We need to qualify for ourselves and our country," he said.
"We need to do our best for South Africa, so it's important that we qualify."
There was further excitement on the track at the national championships as Anrune Liebenberg set an African record in her T46 100m event, winning in 13.07 seconds.
Carley Lomax set a new South African record in the T12 100m event, securing victory in 14.01.
