To be 0.22 seconds faster over 800 metres in the next 30 days is the challenge that awaits Edmund du Plessis.
If the Tuks medical student succeeds, he will compete at the Paris Olympic Games. Judging by his performance, there is a realistic chance he will do so, as he is having a brilliant season.
Du Plessis is already more than two seconds faster this season than last year. At the end of 2023, his best time was 1:47.10. This season, during the South African Championships in Pietermaritzburg, he won the 800 metres running at 1:44.92. It is the second consecutive time that he has won the SA title.
The Tuks medical student’s time is one of the fastest in the last ten years by a South African athlete. Since 2015, only Tshepo Tshite (1:44.59) has been quicker.
A definite highlight was winning the 800 metres in Dessau, Germany, the past weekend. It is Du Plessis’s first international victory.
“To win for the first time in Europe is special. The weather conditions were far from ideal. It rained, and the temperature was 12 degrees Celcius when we raced. All of this contributed to us running slowly over the first 400 metres. I decided to make my move at 350 metres as nobody else seemed interested in racing. My only plan was to race as hard as possible for as long as possible. It worked.”
Du Plessis won in 1:46.71. Botswana’s Kethahogile was second at 1:47.09, followed by Kenia’s KidaliKoitatoi in 1:47.16. It was Du Plessis’s sixth consecutive victory over 800 metres.
According to him, the big turnabout in his athletics career came about in March; during a league meeting at Pilditch, he clocked a time of 1:45.49. At the time, it was a massive personal best.
“It was the confidence booster I needed. I proved to myself during the South African Championships that it was no fluke by running 1:45.58 in the heats and 1:44.92 in the final. If you can run 1:45 or faster internationally, you will always be one of the better athletes in the race.”
Depending on his studies, Du Plessis hopes to at least compete twice before the end of June, which is the cutoff to qualify for the Games.
“I might race in Europe five days before the African Champs in Cameroon.”
Du Plessis believes that he is capable of qualifying for the Paris Games.
“There is a good race in my legs waiting to happen. I am saying this because I was not rested when racing in the final during the national championships. Still, I had a good race.
“Racing at the African Champs could be exciting. Who knows what could happen if I am racing with three or four other athletes from the front over the last few hundred metres? The semifinals could be the do-or-die race.”
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