Glenrose Xaba and Cwenga Nose were the best of the South Africans on the second day of the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Xaba finished 13th in 1:07:49 in the women's half-marathon race, achieving the second-fastest time of her career. Further back, Cacisile Sosibo was 70th across the line in 1:04:00, and Xaba's training partner Karabo Mailula was one position further back, taking 71st place in a career best 1:14:21.
"I came to the race with a positive mindset to try run a PB and to maybe go sub-67, but it was not the day for that and I will try next time. I'm just a bit disappointed that I came number 13 but I'm glad I was able to have a good race," said Xaba, who had finished 12th at the previous edition of the global championships in Riga in 2023.
"The pace was good for me, but I started alone. I pushed a lot and at 13km I caught the second group, so I think I used a lot of energy to do that, but I learned from that after having a poor start."
In the men's half-marathon, Nose took 22nd place, setting a career best of 1:01:09. His compatriot, Elroy Gelant, settled for 87th position in 1:04:41, and SA champion Ngconde Matwebu was unable to finish the 21km race.
"The race was hard, I don't want to lie, from start to finish. It was the hardest race of my life, but I'm happy because I ran a PB and it was my first time being at the World Championships, so I gained experience," Nose said.
Gelant, the national marathon record holder and the most experienced member of the national team, felt the SA squad had performed well throughout the two-day championships.
"Overall, if we look at the mile, the 5km and the half-marathon, the team really did well, so I'm really proud of South Africa," Gelant said. "And if you look at our team we've got a very young team, and I think that's really great working towards the next World Championships."