'I will qualify' - Miranda Coetzee reflects on SA Champs double & World Champs Qualification
Despite narrowly missing out on qualifying for the World Championships, Miranda Coetzee remains upbeat about the season ahead. Running in the colours of Athletics North West North (ANWN), the 25-year-old from Rustenburg shone at the ASA Senior Track and Field Championships last week when she picked up two gold medals and defended her 400m title. In her specialist one lap event, Coetzee clocked a personal best 51.04 to miss the qualification standard by an agonizing four hundredths of a second.
"I’m very excited for the season ahead and I’m hoping for even faster times. It was just off the qualifying standard - Jissie! I don’t know what to say about that but I know that I will qualify. I will qualify. But I’m hoping for faster times," she told a throng of journalists moments after setting the track at the McArthur Stadium alight.
Shortly after cruising to that comfortable victory, the reigning 400m African champion lined up for the 200m and duly completed a memorable double. Taking on defending champion Thamzin Thomas, Coetzee scorched home in another personal best 22.74. With that performance in Potchefstroom last week, the woman who is coached by Eugene Thipe showed that she is ready to feature more prominently on the global stage this year.
But before she can book her ticket to the World Championships which take place in the Hungarian capital of Budapest in August, the woman who represented South Africa at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon will spend some time in rehabilitation to ensure that her body is a finely tuned machine by the time the European summer track and field season gets underway.
"I can do better. There are just a few things that need to be fixed. My body has been shutting down and giving me problems, but I know I can do better. All I need is more training because I have just been struggling with my hamstrings and lower back but we have been working on it with my physio so it’s getting better. I just need recovery and rehab and I’ll be fine. I will do it," she said.