Werner Prinsloo explains why coaches must travel with athletes

With Akani Simbine having secured a bronze medal in the men’s 60m final and Sekgodiso claiming gold in the women’s 800m final, long jumper Cheswill Johnson, who finished 12th in his event, was frustrated over not having his coach present.

Prinsloo, who guides Simbine, was in attendance alongside Samuel Sepeng, who coaches Sekgodiso, in China, and he believes a coach's presence is crucial in helping athletes manage pressure and stay focused on their events.

"It is important, especially for events like his, the long jump and the throws, or whoever – they are very technical so you need to have a coach's eye that can give you the right guidance, not just on the day but leading up to the day but leading up to the day and so on.

"So it is very important, and we need to look at [its viability] – Prudence had her coach there, I was there with Akani, and it proved to be worth it, so we really need to look into that from a federation point of view."

It took Prinsloo and Simbine 16 years to secure a first major individual medal, after multiple near misses – including three Olympic and three World Championship final defeats, and the coach reflected on their achievement.

"As he said, we didn't go there with the expectation of getting a medal, there were some other things at play that [form] part of the bigger plan of what we want to do," he emphasised.

"But the medal is cool, but we don't want it to define this year for him – it's a great start to the year, and now we're going back to start the real training for the outdoors [World Championships], but we're always happy with a medal." 

READ: Akani Simbine: World Indoor medal doesn't define me