Tumi Ramokgopa sights are set on winning a medal at the World Junior Champs

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Tumi Ramokgopa perfected the art of winning on the athletics track last year.

Statistics don’t lie. Of the 28 races Ramokgopa competed in last year, the 17-year-old first-year Tuks student won 25 and finished second three times. She finished second at a Grand Prix meeting, racing against the South African senior record holder, Marione Fourie, in the 100 m hurdles. At the South African senior champs, she was second in the 400 m hurdles heats as well as the final.

ALSO READ: Carmie Prinsloo qualifies for the World Student Cross Country Champs in Italy

It probably goes without saying that Ramokgopa has also won the titles. She is the South African under-20 champion in the 100m and 400m hurdles. The South African senior 100m hurdles champion. At the African Junior Championships in Nigeria, she also won both hurdles events.

And of course, she has also broken records. The South African under-20 100m hurdles record has been broken twice. She ended her season with a time of 13.15 seconds. It’s incredible. In the history of South African women’s athletics, six athletes have run faster times.

Ramokgopa believes she is capable of even faster times, but immediately adds that she is in no rush.

“All that matters to me is to know that every time I compete, I gave it my all. I want to keep improving. It is also important for me to seize every opportunity that comes my way.

“The big goal is to win a medal at the World Junior Athletics Championships. In 2024, I finished third in the semi-finals in the 400m hurdles. So to me, this is the year of redemption.”

The 13.15 seconds that Ramokgopa ran last year was one of the seven fastest times in the world in under-20 athletics.

“My ultimate goal is to represent South Africa at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. To be able to call myself an Olympian would be incredible.”

The Tuks student will only turn 18 in August. This raises the question of how she feels about competing against much older athletes.

“It doesn’t bother me. I have been competing against older athletes since I was 15. It is not a big deal. It is a way to become a better athlete. I can’t wait to see what the seniors have in store for me. The one thing I will have to work on is my speed.”

ALSO READ: Morne Van As sets new SA indoor heptathlon record for the 2nd time in eight days

400 metre or 100 metre hurdles?

“I like them both, I can’t actually choose.”

But if you listen, when she talks, it sounds as if the day she has to choose, it would be the 400m hurdles.

“I love everything about the 400m hurdles. My strength is that I can lead with both legs. Meaning I have the skill to use either their right or left leg as the first leg over the hurdle.”

Ramokgopa took up hurdling at the age of nine.

“I wanted to do something different. My friends found hurdling hard, so I decided to become a hurdler.”