SA record holder Clarence Munyai returns from a long-term injury in Potch

The 25-year-old former SA champion clocked 20.56 to win the senior men's pre-program final in his first competitive race this year. 

Munyai got injured before the Nationals Championships at the same venue earlier this month with a hamstring injury keeping him out for four weeks. But he showed positive signs of a comeback with his big win.

"I'm really happy after being injured for some time, coming back and getting straight to it. I transitioned quite well and executed the plan. That was the whole plan to execute what I have been working on in training," he said.

 After running his first 200m, the plan is to qualify for the World Senior Athletics Championships in Budapest, later this year in Europe. Munyai is confident he can run the qualifying time of 20.16 seconds.

"So, the plan is to get more races in and try to get the qualifying time before the World Championships. After here, I'm going to Europe. I want to go get some races that side so I hit the qualifiers. It was quite nice to run at home because we hardly get the opportunity to run at home. So, coming here for one of the races and the Grand Prix was quite nice," he added.

Munyai is still struggling to come to terms with missing the Nationals Championships earlier this month and did not get a chance to reclaim the title he won back in 2019.

"It was quite disappointing because obviously as athletes we are competitive and it's nice to be called an SA Champion. So, to miss out on that is quite disappointing but obviously, it's sports, you win some you lose some. The best thing about sports is that there are always more opportunities," he concluded.