Qualification standards for the Commonwealth Games for men athletes is 45.30s (45.21s). All individual athletes eligible for the Games shall be ranked in the Top 10 in the Commonwealth to be considered for final selection.

Setlhabi’s stunning win of the men’s 400m in 0:46:37 at the opening ASA Grand Prix series in Bloemfontein serves as the yardstick to his quest for this year’s Commonwealth Games glory. The Northern Cape born will be competing in the 400m event at the ASA the national championship final.

Building up for his challenge he competed in the 200m sprint event at the ASA Grand Prix series third leg staged in Potchefstroom a week ago, 6 April. He ran 21:00 in the 200m event.

“My body conditioning was good, but the finishing time was not what I aimed for,” said Setlhabi.

He said both the Grand Prix series and University Sports South Africa (USSA) track competitions

formed part of his preparation to reach his goal to qualify for the international games.

“I decided to not compete in all Grand Prix series and USSA competitions to ensure I could train to optimise my performance and have enough sessions too. These events were important because after I could gauge my performance and do an introspection where I am still lacking and what I must improve.

It was good to compete in Bloemfontein because we do not really have that many competitions with different competitors…. it was nice to just take the field with different talents that SA has to offer,” said Setlhabi. Part of unlocking his full potential, he also does switch over to compete in 100m sprinting event. Setlhabi’s personal best in the 100m is 10,52.

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