Morne van As achieved something in France this past weekend that very few local athletes have done before: set a South African record in his first attempt.
The Tuks athlete improved the national heptathlon record at an indoor event, scoring 5379 points, winning all seven events. This was the first time he had competed indoors. What is also remarkable is that the 28-year-old Van As only started competing in the heptathlon and decathlon four years ago. He might still be better this weekend, when he competes again in France.
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When asked if he expected to do so well, Van As replied, “If you take a gamble, you have to set goals for yourself. Breaking the record was definitely one. It’s something I was chasing. Everything definitely didn’t go the way I wanted. The 4.70 metres I jumped in the pole vault is a personal best. I am also quite chuffed with the 1.92 metres in the high jump.
“Overall, it feels awesome, cool, you have the record, but there are so many things I would like to do better. My goal wasn’t just to break the record. I want to qualify for the World Indoor Championships in Poland in March. I’m not oblivious to what it will take. The international athletes are very good. It’s going to take a hell of an effort from me in the next two competitions to qualify.”
Van As has an interesting story to tell about how he started competing in multi-discipline events.
“I was a 400m hurdler at school. In 2018, I represented South Africa at the Junior World Championships. I finished seventh in the final. After that, things started to go south. I struggled with one injury after another.
“It got so bad that by 21, I hated athletics. If anyone started talking about athletics, I would walk away. I didn’t participate at all for three years. The turning point came when my uncle, JP van As, and my father, Corne van As, asked me to help run a pole vault academy in Gauteng. One day, I picked up the pole and took a leap. My uncle immediately told me I was a natural and suggested that I take up pole vaulting seriously. I wasn’t keen at all. Then he suggested that I start doing decathlons. That excited me.”
Van As is not someone who takes things half-heartedly. At 25, he quit his teaching job to pursue athletics full-time.
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“The reason I did it was that at 40 I don’t want to wonder about what could have been. I know there are never any guarantees. I may never become a successful athlete. If that happens, I will have no regrets, because I know I gave myself a chance to live out a dream.
“To me, decathlon and heptathlon are a game of experience. The more you do it, the more you learn how to bring every facet together.
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