Engcobo-born athlete, Viwe Jingqi, got everyone talking in the South African sports fraternity, after she dominated the junior division, and now she is setting her sights on the South African senior championships later this month.
The KuBeyele Village-born sprinter broke the South African under-18 100m record three times on Thursday at the National Junior Athletics Championships in Potchefstroom and she is now the fastest u/18 100m sprinter in the world.
The 17-year-old’s time of 11.24 seconds to capture gold in the final was not only an under-18 record, but also a new SA u/20 best, surpassing Marcel Winkler’s 11.25, that was set in 1989.
The former Enduku Full-Service School learner, from KuManzana Village, Engcobo, is now a TuksSport High School learner, after Tuks saw her breaking the 400m division record in the Under-15 South African Schools Athletics National Championship in 2018 in Cape Town.
Komani-Karoo Express spoke to Engcobo Primary Schools athletics convenor, Ndumiso Mbaxa, who worked with Jingqi while she was still in ENduku FSS in 2017 and 2018.
“Everyone was convinced that Viwe would go places with her special talent because she was breaking records even then. I remember we were in Cape Town when she broke u/15 SA Schools Athletics Championship record in 400m and that is when Tuks saw her,” recalls Mbaxa.
The school’s teacher, who is also a football referee under the South African Football Association in the Eastern Cape, said Jingqi’s success was an inspiration to others.
“Her success is an inspiration to every young person in the Eastern Cape and it shows that even if you come from the rural areas, when God gives you talent, it will shine for everyone to see it,” concluded Mbaxa.
The record holder said running was just a hobby when she started in 2015, as a 10-year-old, and she only took it seriously after starting to break records.
“Back home in Engcobo, everyone is taking part in athletics, so I got interested as well and I loved running. It became serious when I was starting to break records in the region and the province. It was always my dream to break a world record and get people talking about me,” she said, laughing.
