Latest news with #Gelant
IOL News
7 days ago
- Sport
- IOL News
Gelant remains upbeat despite title loss in Durban 10K
Defending champion Elroy Gelant (left) finished in fifth place at the Absa Run Your City Durban 10K on Sunday morning that was won by Kabelo Mulaudzi (right) . Image: Anthony Grote Elroy Gelant remains positive despite failing to defend his Absa Run Your City Durban 10K title on Sunday morning, with the World Athletics Championships the bigger picture for the celebrated South African marathon record holder. Fellow Boxer Athletics Club runner Kabelo Mulaudzi clocked a personal best of 27:41 to win the tightly contested race. Kamehelo Mofolo of Lesotho was second (27:47), Kenya's Vincent Kipkorir third (27:48), and Tanzania's Jummanne Ngoya fourth. Gelant crossed the line in fifth, clocking 27:58. He pointed to a change in the course layout — which added more corners and inclines — as a possible reason for his slower time. Gelant won last year's edition in 27:47. Kabelo Mulaudzi clocked a personal best of 27:41 to win the highly contested Absa Run Your City Durban 10K on Sunday. Image: Anthony Grote Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading 'I won't tell the organiser, but it's not that fast, especially with the corners. And at 6km to 7km there's that small hump. For a marathon that might be okay, but for a 10km race, running 2:45s on those hills is not easy. Even a car travelling 120km/h slows down when it gets to a bump — so it wasn't easy,' Gelant said, after the race. He remained with the lead group until the final 2km, when Mulaudzi's decisive surge blew the race open. Still, Gelant refuses to let Sunday's run derail his ambitions of a podium finish in the marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September. 'I would still say it was a positive run in terms of my preparations for the world championships,' he said. His confidence is backed by a stellar 2:05:36 performance at the Hamburg Marathon earlier this year — a new South African record — and an 11th place finish at last year's Olympic marathon in Paris. 'The difference is the self-belief,' he explained. 'Even this year, for me to run that 2:05 was because of the self-belief I gained last year at the Olympics. That's what I'm taking into the world championships. It's the belief that I can actually do it that's slowly coming back.' 'I got a cramp at 37km (in Hamburg), and I think I could have maybe done 2:05:10 or somewhere around there.' With several East African stars either skipping the world championships or potentially dropping out in favour of major marathons, Gelant believes a top-three finish is realistic. 'Tokyo will be much more humid, but I think with that time you can maybe make the top six — and with the East Africans not there, maybe aim for the top three.' Reflecting on the East African challenge in Durban, Gelant added: 'They were quite good, but I wasn't at my best today. "I could feel from 8km that I was struggling. Last year, by 8km I was still idling in fifth gear, and when I got to 9km I said, 'Let me go into sixth'. This time around, I was already struggling at 8km. The Kenyans are still here — they're not going anywhere. So they were good, but I also don't feel they were that good.'
IOL News
18-05-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
After SA record, Elroy Gelant aims for even quicker time to chase world champs medal
Elroy Gelant New SA marathon record-holder Elroy Gelant (red vest). Photo: SUPPLIED Image: SUPPLIED AT THE age of 38, many athletes are way past it. Not so Elroy Gelant, who is epitomising the saying 'ageing like fine wine' by producing performances that far belies his age. His recent run at the Hamburg Marathon catapulted him into national hero status, and ensured that his legacy will outlive him. Granted, records are there to be broken, and his 2:05:36 that improved Gert Thys' long-standing mark from 1999 by 57 seconds will be bettered in time. The man himself is realistic enough to acknowledge that much. 'I think there's something more in the pocket, and not just for me individually. I think that we as South Africans have the ability to run faster and get to that 2:04 or 2:03 world standard,' Gelant told Independent Media. It is just two weeks after he had smashed the 26-year-old record that was fast beginning to look unbreakable, and Gelant is already anticipating the next big goal. A multiple Olympian who performed best of the South African marathoners at the Paris Olympics with his 11th-place finish, the man from Pacaltsdorp in George has his sights now set on the upcoming World Athletics Championships. Unlike last year, when he had to anxiously wait for the rankings to see if he had accumulated enough points to earn his place at the Games, Gelant has secured an automatic ticket for the World Championships in Tokyo in September, thanks to that superb effort in Hamburg that earned him fourth place. 'Most definitely,' he says during our interview in the Mother City ahead of the Absa RUN YOUR CITY CAPE TOWN 10k, which he later completed in 28:08 for fourth place. 'That's one of the things I was thinking about. Last year, it was nail-biting about going to the Olympics or not. 'But what the Olympics did for me was to teach me to 'believe in yourself', and when the gun went off, I was like, 'Whether (Eliud) Kipchoge is in front of me or not, I was going to go for it'. I don't care.' It was that attitude which saw him run the race of his life in Hamburg. 'I went with the same mentality to Hamburg, and I am starting to get to where I believe in myself that I can be among the best in the world. 'When I started (running marathons), I always looked up to (Kenenisa) Bekele and Kipchoge. Yet watching them on TV, I felt that these guys were running slowly,' he chuckles. He did get a chance to test himself against Bekele once, and while the Ethiopian showed him a clean pair of heels, Gelant felt he held his own against the legendary runner. 'There was a time in Belgium when Bekele had to qualify for the 10 000m World Champs in the last race before the qualifications cut-off. 'I had the opportunity to race against him, and it was almost just me and him in that race – he ran a 27:20 something, and I ran a 27:41. 'I always had the belief that I can be better than these guys, and I slowly but surely started to get it back into my mentality that I really can. 'I think that's what played a big role in my breaking the South African record in Hamburg.' Gelant could actually have run much faster than the time he did had his hamstring not bailed out on him for a while. 'For the Hamburg race, my watch was set for 2:05:30. That was my target. 'I didn't focus on the record, because I knew I had it in me to run something way more special than the record. 'I missed my target for the race by six seconds because at 37 kilometres, I got a bit of a hamstring (niggle) and I stopped. 'I was like, 'My race is over', and then I thought I am so close to the finish, I can't give up, and I started running again, going easy until my hamstring eased up.' As he looks ahead to the World Championships, where he could become the first South African to win a medal at a major global event in the marathon since Josiah Thugwane's glorious golden run at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Gelant admits he will have to be a little faster. 'The reality is that 2:05 is still average, it's not fast. You need to be at around 2:02 to be a contender for an Olympic or World Championship medal.' Such has been his improvement and 'can do' attitude in the past three years that there's every reason to believe that the Boxer Athletics Club superstar can produce runs good enough to compete for medals, even at his ripe old age of 38.
IOL News
27-04-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Elroy Gelant shatters SA record in Hamburg Marathon
TOP PERFORMANCE Elroy Gelant (centre) broke the South African marathon record with a remarkable time of 2:05:36 at the Hamburg Marathon, showcasing his impressive transition to long-distance running. Picture: BackpagePix Elroy Gelant shattered the SA record as he finished fourth in the Hamburg Marathon in a time of 2 hours five minutes and 36 seconds (2:05:36) on Sunday. The 38-year-old took 57 seconds off the previous SA record, which was set by Gert Thys in Tokyo in 1999. Gelant has produced an exceptional late-career flourish as he has made the switch to the marathon from the shorter half-marathon and 10km races in South Africa. Testament to his quality over the 42.2km distance, Gelant also finished 11th at the Paris Olympics in the men's marathon last year.
The South African
27-04-2025
- Sport
- The South African
Elroy Gelant breaks 26-year old South African marathon record
South African long-distance star Elroy Gelant made history on Sunday, breaking one of the nation's oldest athletics records with a blistering performance at the Hamburg Marathon. The 38-year-old Gelant, a former national 5 000m record holder, finished fourth in the elite field with a stunning time of 2:05:36, shattering the longstanding South African marathon record of 2:06:33 set by Gert Thys in Tokyo back in 1999. Gelant sliced an impressive 57 seconds off the old mark and obliterated his own personal best by more than three minutes – his previous best being 2:08:56, set in Seville last year. Beyond the historic national milestone, Gelant's performance also secured himself an automatic qualification for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September, comfortably beating the qualifying standard of 2:06:30. Kenya's Amos Kipruto won the race in 2:03:46, leading home a fiercely competitive field. Elroy Gelant's fourth-place finish cemented his place among the top marathoners on the global stage and marked a major triumph for South African distance running. Gelant, who placed 11th in the marathon at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, continues to show remarkable endurance and progression well into his late thirties – a testament to his longevity and determination in the sport. His record-breaking run signals a new era for South African marathon running, inspiring hopes for even greater success on the world stage later this year. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
The Citizen
27-04-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Elroy Gelant shatters 31-year-old South African marathon record
Gelant clocked 2:05:36 to finish fourth in Hamburg. Long-distance runner Elroy Gelant obliterated one of the longest standing records in the South African books on Sunday, taking fourth place at the Hamburg Marathon in Germany. Gelant, a former national record holder over the 5 000m distance on the track, crossed the finish line in 2:05:36 to slice 57 seconds off the national 42km mark of 2:06:33 which was set by Gert Thys in Tokyo in 1999. The 38-year-old athlete, who finished 11th in the marathon race at last year's Olympic Games in Paris, ripped more than three minutes off his personal best of 2:08:56 set in Seville last year. In the process, he achieved the automatic qualifying standard of 2:06:30 for the World Athletics Championships to be held in Tokyo in September. Kenyan athlete Amos Kipruto won the race in Hamburg in 2:03:46.
