Mahlangu’s double delight with second gold
In what was a renowned performance, South Africa’s Ntando
Mahlangu claimed his second gold medal and lived up to his favourites tag in
the men’s 200m (T61) at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo on Friday.
Mahlangu showed that he is the next generation of sprinter when the 19-year-old claimed the crown from Great Britain legend Richard Whitehead to claim South Africa’s fourth gold medal of the Games.
The young speedster burst on to the scene at the Rio Games as a 13-year-old and managed to overturn the medal list after he won silver five years ago and Whitehead won gold.
His time of 23.59sec was not far off his current world record time of 23.03sec that he set back 2019.
“I’m not concerned that there wasn’t a crowd here in the stadium tonight. The most important thing when I started doing athletics was to run,” Mahlangu said to the Team South Africa website.
“Having a nice full stadium would be nice, but the fact that I can come here and do what I love is what drives me.
“The love and the warmth from the Japanese people before coming to the stadium and all through the Games has been wonderful. Coming into the race I didn’t want to talk too much about winning and I certainly didn’t take the gold medal for granted.
“I had changed a few things and my start was a bit slow, but I knew where in the race I would accelerate. I was very well prepared.
“At the end of the day I’m very happy, you know, I go back home with two gold medals and one world record. Not a lot of people can say that. I can be proud of myself,” Mahlangu said.
Reflecting on the final, Mahlangu felt that he ran the best possible race he could and made sure that he kept his cool when he was under pressure.
“I was well prepared for this race and I think you could see that. To come from behind on the bend shows that I executed things properly.
“The problem with being behind is not the fact that you’re behind, but it’s making sure you then don’t panic and execute things properly in the second half of the race and finish the race off.
“I am very, very happy and very happy with where I am at this stage in my career. I can be proud of myself and there’s no need to put pressure on myself, I still have many years ahead of me.
The long jump world record did take a bit out of me though, I could feel it for the first 110m or so but when I got into the second half of the race my body responded, and I could execute the race in the way that I had planned.”
Tebogo Mofokeng also raced on Friday night and finished fourth in an African record 50.09sec in the men’s 400m (T62) final, with fellow athlete Daniel du Plessis placing 7th in 53.56.
Charl du Toit finished fourth in his men’s 200m (T37) heat in 24.04sec and narrowly missed out on a place in the final.
