Mhlongo aims to step up at World Champs & secure 2024 Paralympic Games slot
The 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.
South African T44 world record holder for 100m, 200m and long jump and Paralympic Games record holder Mpumelelo Mhlongo. Picture: phantom_toes/Instagram.
JOHANNESBURG - South African T44 world record holder in the 100m, 200m and long jump and Paralympic Games record holder Mpumelelo Mhlongo is among the athletes currently in France preparing to compete at the World Para Athletics Championships from 8 to 17 July.
“Honestly, the World Championships are a stepping stone to the Paris Paralympic Games so the core aim is to generate a slot for the country and then execute 40% of the preparations we have done. I cannot say that there has been more intention other than daily hard work and trusting the team to get me where I need to be, wherever that may be at this stage of our 2024 journey,” said Mhlongo.
The World Para Athletics Championships is the second most important sporting event in the disabled sports calendar after the Paralympic Games and are held every two years.
South African T44 world record holder for 100m, 200m and long jump and Paralympic Games record holder Mpumelelo Mhlongo. Picture: phantomtoes/Twitter. _
“One of the greatest South African athletics coaches, Suzanne Ferreira, always preached that ‘a happy athlete is a fast athlete’. We have been blessed with health lately so it has allowed me to be intentional on my happiness,” said the para-athlete on his preparations.
The 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.
Mhlongo told Eyewitness News that he hoped “Paris 2024 is hopefully the year we surpass our wildest dreams and see what is on the other end of potential.”
The T44 athlete was born with amniotic band syndrome, which resulted in a clubfoot and his right leg being shorter than his left.
“I got into athletics because as a kid, I wanted my speed ability to be known more so than my disability. Looking back, I never knew there could be ample space for both to coexist.”
T44 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics, applying to single below-knee amputation or an athlete who can walk with moderately reduced function in one or both legs.
“I do not believe para-sports gets enough attention, especially with the inspiring stories and people that make up that community. How much attention it deserves is too contextual to say but I believe there will come a time whereby para-sports will mean more to its communities and then inherently get the attention it deserves.”
The Investec-sponsored athlete is a multiple world championship medalist, a South African sprint and long jump athlete and Paralympic Games record holder. He won silver and bronze at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in the T44 men's 100 metres and long jump events.
“Para-sports just needs a light to shine in its direction so that it can steal the show. A first start would be a greater effort to showcase the current crop on mainstream TV. That alone would do wonders as we have seen in other parts of the world.”
Mhlongo has represented South Africa at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Games, where he broke the T44 200m world record and set the T44 200m, 100m, and long jump Paralympic Games records. His first Paralympic appearance was at the Rio 2016 Paralympics Games.
The ESG and climate risk analyst at Investec and University of Cape Town Chemical Engineering Ph.D. candidate set his first ratified world record in 2019 at the Grosseto Grand Prix in the T44 long jump of 7.03m, being the only T44 athlete to jump over the 7m mark.
“My greatest career highlight will remain as receiving the Western Cape Ministerial Commendation Award. On the track, it has been breaking the 7m barrier in the long jump and 23 seconds barrier for the 200m which was first seen as impossible for our T44 class,” said the Paralympian.
SOUTH AFRICA'S PARA-WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
Ntombizanele Situ, Tezna Abrahams, Sheryl James, Louzanne Coetzee, Liezel Gouws, Yane van der Merwe, Juane le Roux, Simone Kruger, Ndodomzi Ntutu, Mpumelelo Mhlongo, Puseletso Mabote, Tebogo Mofokeng, Refilwe Mosifane, Jaco Smit, Kerwin Noemdo, Tyrone Pillay, Brandon Beack, Pieter du PreezGuides: Erasmus Badenhorst, Clause Kempen.