Mashele laments strict qualifying standard by World Athletics

World Athletics have a new qualifying time of 27:10:00 for the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August 2023.

The 32-year-old Boxer Running Club star conceded it will be difficult for runners to qualify, as the 10 000m races are like marathons.

The SA multiple 10km champion struggled to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Japan when the qualifying standard was 27:13:50.

Mashele booked his ticket to the Tokyo Games by running 27:13:11 on his fifth attempt on deadline day in Durban.

The qualifying time has been reduced by three minutes and will require him to double his efforts to get to Budapest.

However, Mashele told SABC Sport he is confident he can still qualify for the championships.

"We can do it with my coach (Hendrick Ramaala), we have to focus on mileage and fitness. It could take me three to four races to run the qualifying time. I am optimistic about my chances of qualifying for the World Championships in Budapest,” says a confident Mashele.

To show how serious he is about his goal of qualifying for the world championships, Mashele took a break for a few days in December.

He trains with some of the best road runners in the country, like Desmond Mokgobu and Maxime Chaumenton at Zoo Lake, led by legendary coach Ramaala.

“I can qualify if the race is in Durban. It is the best province to run a qualifying time. There is too much wind and sometimes rain in Cape Town. It is an impossible city to run because the weather there is unpredictable,” said Mashele.

Mashele believes the lack of pacemakers nearly cost him an opportunity of a lifetime in 2021 (when the Olympic Games were postponed due to Covid-19). 

“It took me longer to qualify for the Olympics because we did not have a pacemaker. But now we have four to five pacemakers at Zoo Lake. We need three or four disciplined pacemakers to secure qualification on time,” he explained.

Athletics South Africa (ASA) has yet to release its calendar for 2023, and Mashele is waiting to see where he can run his qualifying time.

For now, Mashele will channel his energy on the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia, on 18 January, where his target is the top 10.

“The plan is to finish in the top 20, but a top 10 finish guarantees an automatic qualifying time for the World Championships in Hungary. I will push for that top 10 finish, but I would still be happy with a top 20 finish,” said Mashele.

Locally, Mashele will run in the Absa Run Your Series 10km races, where the winner in each of the five races collects more than R30 000.

By Charles Baloyi