'He's in a good state of mind' - Coach T reflects on Dambile's fast start to 2025 season
After going beyond his 100m personal best twice already this season, it's looking more and more like 2025 could be Sinesipho Dambile's season. The 2022 South African 200m champion has had a quiet last eighteen months during which he failed to qualify for the Olympic Games, despite showing some early season promise. But 2025 started brightly for the 23-year-old.
He produced a fast start on his way to clocking 32.95 over 300m at the Simbine Classic Shootout on 8 February and then followed that up with a sensational SA Best 15.01 over 150m two weeks later to eclipse the mark of 15.04 set by Akani Simbine twelve months earlier. His coach Thabo Matibedi who has been at his side since he the 200m bronze medal at the World U20 Championships in 2021, says his athlete has turned the mental corner which leaves him hopeful for the year ahead.
"After seeing him not getting any success for the last two years, I'm happy to see him on the right track. I'm happy that he's been able to bounce back after two tough years. He looks happy and he is in a good state of mind. There's no injury. There's no sickness. So by God's Grace I think we are gonna make it," he told #TheTopRunner.
With an eye on upgrading the 200m bronze he won at last year's Athletics South Africa Senior Track and field Championships to gold in April, Dambile and his coach have decided to focus on the 100m event as part of their preparation for those national champs in Potchefstroom. The man who holds a 20.28 half lap lifetime best ran 10.28 at an Athletics Gauteng North League Meeting on Saturday 1 March, which was the second fastest 100m clocking of his career.
"He's in great form. Even before the 150m and the 300m he opened the season with a 100m where he ran 10.22 from his pervious PB which was 10.28. He is more of a speed endurance runner so if he can execute 100m faster it will be much easier for him on the 200m. So we can see that we are on the right track."
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