Teenage prospect Alexandra Scheepers (14) blew the competition away on her way to setting two new meeting records in the high jump and long jump for girls under-15 at the Curro Podium Grand Finale in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday.
Scheepers, a pupil at Windhoek Gymnasium, a Select Curro school, especially set the field alight with her performance in the high jump that saw her being awarded as the junior girl field athlete of the meeting.
She cleared the bar at 1,75m to not only secure gold, but also set a new meeting record.
Making the performance even more spectacular was the fact that her winning mark was also better than the heights achieved by the under-19 and under-17 champions at the meeting.
Mia Janse van Rensburg (from Garsfontein) won the under-19 item with a jump of 1,7m, while Anjé Bezuidenhout won gold in the under-17 age group by clearing 1,73m.
Janse van Rensburg represented South Africa at the African Championships of 2022 in Mauritius.
Her personal best is 1,76m, which she achieved in 2022 during the Pretoria A Bond.
“I started doing high jump four years ago, and I enjoy it so much that I would like to do it until I physically can’t do it any more,” Scheepers said on Saturday.
The long jump record for girls under-15 at the Curro Podium Grand Finale also belongs to Scheepers, after she won gold with a jump of 5,87m.
The Windhoek-born Scheepers became the first Namibian to win a gold medal in high jump during the World School Sport Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Her winning jump of 1,67m was her personal best at that stage.
She believes she got her exceptional talent from her parents, Gideon and Karin Scheepers, who both earlier excelled at athletics.
“My father was a pole vaulter, while my mother also showed a lot of promise during her athletics career,” Scheepers said.
She is planning to study sport science or become a biokineticist, but for now, her next big meeting is the Namibian National Schools Championships, where she wants to clear 1,8m in the high jump.
Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for
only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!
