Cacisile Sosibo gears up for World Cross Country Championships

The Central Gauteng Athletics athlete joins Karabo Mailula, Kyla Jacobs, Cian Oldknow and Zanele Maisa in the senior women’s 10km team.

Team South Africa received its official send-off at the Garden Court Hotel near OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday ahead of departure to the United States.

Representing Central Gauteng Athletics, Sosibo enters her first major international assignment of the year under the guidance of veteran coach Michael “Sponge” Seme.

She believes her festive-season training block has put her in a strong position to compete.

“I’m not putting pressure on myself because when we run, anything can happen. We are competing against very fast runners,” Sosibo told SABC Sport.

“I’ve raced on tough courses before, like in Australia, and in Belgrade where I placed 40th. My goal is to improve my performance against strong competition. Cross country is difficult, but I want to learn and see how it helps me grow as an athlete.”

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While South Africa enters the event with outside hopes of a team medal, Sosibo emphasises that results will hinge on individual execution across the squad.

“I can’t really speak for the whole team because everyone prepared differently with their coaches,” she said.

“I know that on my side, I did my best. In cross country, team results are very important because if one runner finishes outside the top 100, it affects everyone.”

A familiar face on the Spar Women’s 10km Grand Prix circuit and the Absa Run Your City Series, Sosibo views cross country as a separate and more demanding test of endurance and race intelligence.

“This competition is very important, but cross country is the most difficult discipline — running through water, on grass and uneven terrain,” she explained.

“My season will really start to take shape once I return from America. That’s when I’ll shift focus to track and road races and plan my year properly.”

With her ambitions centred on steady progress rather than expectation, the Boxer Running Club athlete aims to use Saturday’s race to sharpen her international racing credentials heading into a long season ahead.