The World Para Athletics Championships are crucial in an athlete’s pursuit of a slot for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games and South Africa’s Yane van der Merwe is aiming to scale new heights in the discus event at the World Championships and secure her Paralympic spot.
UJ SSD Athlete Yane van der Merwe. Picture: Andries Kruger
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa has named a strong squad for the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, France, from 8 to 17 July.
Among the athletes named in the squad is a talented young discus thrower, Yane van der Merwe.
The athlete won gold at the national championships for athletes with physical disabilities in Cape Town earlier in the year.
“The national competition is the stepping stone for athletes to showcase their talents against other provinces as well as against other African and international athletes.”
FILE: Para-athlete Yane van der Merwe will be representing South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Picture: Facebook.
At the national championships, she set a new South African record and also equalled the African record.
“In preparation for World Champs, I had two training camps leading up to the Champs. This helped me to work on mental health and a lot of technical questions with the technique,” said Van der Merwe to Eyewitness News.
The World Para-Championships are crucial in the athletes’ pursuit of securing slots for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. Any athlete finishing in the top 4 or better will qualify for one slot.
The University of Johannesburg student-athlete competed at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games where she finished fifth and now she’s set her sights on performing well at the World Champs and on being selected for the Paralympic Games in 2024.
“The Commonwealth Games of 2022 taught me a lot. This was my first big international competition with a packed crowd. I will take that experience and the training camps with me to the Champs. I believe this will help me to focus and work on my performance in the competition,” said Van der Merwe.
The student-athlete made her first mark as a para-athlete at the age of 17 when she broke the under-18 javelin record at the SA Championships for the physically disabled at the Westbourne Oval in Port Elizabeth.
FILE:UJ SSD Athlete Yane van der Merwe. Picture: Andries Kruger.
“I was born with a club foot on the right, meaning I have no movement of my ankle in my right leg. I am classified as F44, lower limb deficiency.”
The youngster from Trichardt in Mpumalanga has competed at the World Para Athletics Junior Championships in Switzerland, placing third in the javelin U20, and the IWAS 2017 competition in Portugal, where she placed first in javelin, third in shotput U18 and fourth in discus in the open class category.
“I love sport and cannot sit still. Being very active I participated in everything. I end up loving field events the most, only moving my focus to discus at the end of 2019. I love every second of it. During competition season, like I am in now, I gym three times a week and work on technique five times a week – gym for about 90 minutes and throw for around 90 minutes.”
The South African team heading to the World Championships is made up of 26 athletes with a great mixture of experienced athletes, which includes Zanele Situ and Pieter du Preez.
“I know the whole South Africa will be watching and cheering from home,” said the Van der Merwe.
READ MORE:
– Situ, Du Preez make World Para Athletics Championships team
– Yane van der Merwe dreams of a PB and medal at the Commonwealth Games
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