Out of the medals but Wildschutt hopes he inspired youth

TENTH place at the Olympics is not a finish many would consider worth celebrating. After all, it is usually all about the podium. You have to finish in the top three to be worthy of a red-carpet welcome.

Sometimes, though, athletes finish that far behind and still produce a performance of a lifetime.

This was the case with Adriaan Wildschutt, who smashed his own South African record in the 10,000m final at the Paris Olympics on Friday night.

The 26-year-old from Ceres in the Western Cape ran a sizzling fast 26 minutes and 50.54 seconds, five seconds faster than the national mark he set in March when he ran the qualifier for Paris 2024.

That record back in March was also an improvement on his previous record of 27:23.10 from May 2023.

Speaking after the highly tactical and super-fast race that was won by world champion and world record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda in an Olympic record 26:43.14, Wildschutt said he hoped his run would serve as inspiration to younger South African athletes.

🏅 𝕆𝕝𝕪𝕞𝕡𝕚𝕔 𝔾𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕤 ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕤 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟜 🏅

🇿🇦 #TeamSA's Adriaan Wildschutt after setting a new South African record in the Men's 10 000m final #Athletics as he finished 10th at the #OlympicGames in Paris.

📽️ @OfficialTeamRSA#SABCSportOlympics #Olympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/XfM0Ue1x6X

— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) August 2, 2024

“This is the most amazing competition I’ve ever been a part of,” the US-based athlete said after the race.

“I’m so fortunate coming from such a small town, Ceres, where people love their sport and I’m able to really be a representative for them and every single kid that comes from the same background as me.

“They can really look up to me and gain a lot of inspiration from that.”

Inspirational was his run, indeed, for Wildschutt incredibly managed to stick to the lead group from the start, and even when the Ethiopian trio injected the pace and shared the lead through the laps as they tried to destroy Cheptegei, the South African kept up.

He was only dropped in the final 500 metres to miss out on the podium positions, but he was still able to be among the top 13, who all incredibly dipped under the previous Olympic record of 27:01.17.

The great run is sure to serve as great inspiration, not only for the aspiring athletes from Ceres and all of South Africa, but to Wildschutt himself, too.

Adriaan Wildschutt continues his rise among elite track distance runners, setting a new South African record with a time of 26:50.64 in the Men’s 10,000m final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 🇿🇦🏃‍♂️ #TeamSA #Olympics2024 #ForMyCountry pic.twitter.com/eGnhqbpwRv

— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 2, 2024

He is still to run in the 5,000m at the Games and having managed to keep up with the world’s best in the 10,000m as he did on Friday, he will surely bet on himself to be much more competitive in the shorter distance.

In winning Friday’s race, Cheptegei edged Ethiopian Berihu Aregwai (26:43.44) into second place, while American Grant Fisher took bronze in 26:43.46.

Olympic dreams dashed

Meanwhile, the Olympic dreams of both Ryan Mphahlele and Tshepo Tshite went up in smoke at Stade de France on Saturday night as South Africa’s 1,500m duo failed to progress to the semi-finals at the second time of asking.

Unsuccessful in the first round on Friday, the two athletes had a second bite in the newly introduced repechage, but both came short.

Employing completely opposite tactics, neither of them could finish in the requisite top three positions in their heat to progress.

Tshite was first up and held back for the initial laps and surged in the final 100 metres. The athlete from the North West made ground on the leaders but only up to fourth place with his 3:35.35.

With third placed Ossama Meslek of Italy clocking 3:35.32, Tshite will no doubt be kicking himself for not having tried to be a little further up earlier on.

Just thereafter, Mphahlele took to the track and used a different tactic. The national mile record holder led from the start and was still up front when they took the bell for the final lap.

But he tired dismally and the field swallowed him up so easily that it appeared as though he was going in reverse. He finished 11th in 3:36.64.

As disappointing as their performances were, the duo will have picked up valuable lessons from their debut Games and should be better athletes for it.