'I'm happy with the progress' - Nadeel Wildschutt reflects on new Boland 10km record and magical 2024
Over a period of 14 months, South African track sensation Adriaan Wildschutt has been in tremendous form, grabbing the limelight as the country's foremost middle and long distance track athlete. During that time he has managed to set three national records over 3 000m, 5 000m and 10 000m. But he is not the only Wildschutt that has been in red hot form this year. His brother Nadeel is also making eye catching progress this season.
Earlier this year, he was part of the SA team that went to the Serbian Capital, Belgrade to compete at the World Cross Country Championships. Then he followed that achievement by winning SA 10 000m title in Pietermaritzburg - his first SA senior title. The 27-year-old then showed his versatility by clocking an impressive 28:07 for eighth position at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K on 7 July, where he smashed his personal best time by 68 seconds and also broke the Boland Athletics 10km record of 28:16 which had been set by Ian Syster 22 years ago. Speaking to #TheTopRunner after that remarkable showing in Durban, Nadeel couldn't hide his delight.
"I'm very excited with the way I ran in Durban even though I lost touch with the lead bunch in the final mile when they managed to pull away from me. In the end though, I'm happy that I managed to get a huge personal best time of over a minute," explains, Nadeel, who holds Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Coastal Carolina University in the United States.
"For the past 12 months, I have been working hard to improve as an athlete. Coming into the race, I knew I prepared enough to run anything between 28 minutes flat and 28:20. But as I mentioned, I didn't have a gear to stay with them in that last kilometer or so. I would have loved to be in the top five too. I would also love to touch that sub-28 minutes in future and I know what is required of me to do so," explained the man who also broke 8 minutes for 3 000m for the first time this year when he ran 7:59.42 to win the event at the Cape Milers Club/Endurocad WA Challenger Series in April.
Having been coached by the legendary Zola Budd during his time in the US, the man who hails from the town of Ceres in the Western Cape remained under his mentor's wing when he returned to South Africa after completing his tertiary education. Recently though, Wildschutt has been self-coached with advice from key mentors including his younger brother Adriaan. It's an approach that has borne fruit for Wildschutt both on and off the track because he was recently appointed as Athletes Manager at the Elana Meyer-led Endurocad athletics development programme. He says the last twelve months have been a joy for him.
"This is a very exciting year for me. It looks like I have come from nowhere but I have been there. Injuries tend to happen and you can't stop them. Ever since, I came back from the World Cross Country Championships, I had some of incredible track races here in South Africa, then I followed up with this huge achievement on the road. At the end of the day, there is still a room for improvement, but I'm happy with the progress."
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