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Middle-distance star Elroy Gelant was a notable absentee when Athletics SA (ASA) announced the provisional senior squad for the IAAF World Championships this week.
The organisation named a 63-member squad for the event, which takes place in Beijing, China, from August 22 to August 30.
“This is not a final team,” said ASA athletes’ coordinator Hezekiel Sepeng. “A final team will be announced at a later stage.
“Some of the listed athletes have achieved qualifying standards. In choosing this squad, we looked at the athletes’ performances during the national championships and whether they had strong chances of qualifying.”
Sepeng referred to the ongoing European track and field season as the last chance for athletes to attain their qualifying standards before the August 10 deadline.
“No one is guaranteed a place in the list that we have released,” he said.
Gelant has yet to qualify in his specialist 5 000m event – he was troubled by a hamstring injury in the final at the SA Senior Track and Field Championships last month.
He needs to clock 13:23.00 to meet the Beijing qualification entry standard.
Gelant, a finalist at the last global championships in Moscow, Russia, in 2013, will launch his bid for qualification at the IAAF World Challenge in Holland today. Next weekend, he will be at the Prefontaine Classic meeting in Eugene in the US. At this Diamond League meeting, he will compete against a strong field dominated by the Americans, Kenyans and the Ethiopians who boast sub-13:00.00 personal bests.
Gelant’s training partner Caster Semenya has also not yet cracked the 2:01.00 time needed to be considered for the two-lap event.
Her season best is 2:04.00.
