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World indoor 800m champion Prudence Sekgodiso is set to switch focus to the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from 23 July to 2 August.
The national 800m champion will test herself over the longer distance as part of her preparations in a championship year that comes without the pressure of the Olympic Games or World Championships.
Her coach, Samuel Sepeng, told SABC Sport that after reaching the 800m final at her Olympic debut in Paris in 2024 and failing to progress beyond the heats at last year’s World Senior Championships in Tokyo, the decision was taken to step away from her specialist event and explore new challenges.
"It is something that we are considering in our camp, which is why even whe I respond about Tshepo, I say yes, I want to go for it and we want to target the 5000m for him. It is something that we are working on in the sense that once we step into the 1500m for Prudence, we are looking at a sub-four-minute time. The capability to do that is common," said Sepeng
Sepeng, a full-time coach at the University of Pretoria, says the 24-year-old has competed in the 800m for many years and that the time is right to branch out into other events.
He pointed to her appearance in the 5000m at the national senior championships two years ago as an example of her versatility, adding that the 1500m is now firmly under consideration in his camp.
The younger brother of Olympic 800m silver medallist Hezekiel Sepeng says there is no pressure on Sekgodiso to win gold at the Commonwealth Games.
He believes, however, that her chances of delivering a strong performance over 1500m are higher than in her specialised 800m event.
"At this stage it's difficult to tell whether we going to be at the Commonwealth Games in the 800m or the 1500m but, as I mentioned the chances of us going with the 1500m is high."
Sekgodiso recently finished seventh in 2:04.26 at the Czech Indoor Gala.
Despite the result, Sepeng says they are encouraged that she completed the race, especially after she dropped out of the heats at the World Senior Championships in Tokyo in her last competitive outing last year.
He admits that the performance signals a need to reassess and go back to the drawing board.
