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South African hammer throw record holder Leandri Geel is still coming to terms with having broken the national record as she looks to continue her trajectory in 2023.
Geel smashed the national women’s hammer throw record, achieving 66.11m at the Athletics South Africa Grand Prix 2 at the Germiston Athletics Stadium last week.
She threw an impressive 31 metres further than the previous record of 65.80m achieved by Phethisang Makhethe in April 2022.
Geel, a medical doctor, is now the main attraction at this week’s Grand Prix 3, which forms part of a Continental Tour Challenger at the Puk MacArthur Athletics Stadium in Potchefstroom on Wednesday.
"It still felt a bit unreal. Everything happened very quickly, so actually didn't have a chance to think about what just happened. But these past few days, I've been replaying the events and just seeing that measuring tape showing 66.11 meters. So, I'm very thankful that it happened," she said.
Despite her record-breaking performance, the 25-year-old does not want added pressure ahead of the upcoming Grand Prix and insists she will take it one competition at a time.
"Honestly, I'm not completely sure just yet what I'm hoping to achieve but I'm looking forward to competing at this event. As it was very well organised. I'm going to give my absolute best and see what happens," she said.
Geel initially did not see herself doing another event except for discus and shot put. However, her coach Chris Harmse convinced her to try the hammer throw event, and the rest is history.
"After one of the competitions, I just decided to finally make the move as I was looking for something challenging. I kind of hit the wall with the discus and the shot put and my distance started going down. So, I made the decision to swap over to hammer throw. I gave Chris a call and he said that he didn't mind helping me out. I started training with him as soon as possible and I have not regretted it since," she concluded.
