In 2024, there will likely be a major showdown between South Africa’s leading female triathletes in the hunt to claim the women’s African New Flag slot at the Paris Olympic Games.
By way of reminder, to earn a New Flag place, an individual must be the highest ranked athlete from their continent and race for a country that has not already qualified an athlete of the same gender to Paris. Moreover, they must be inside the top-180 of the world rankings.
Unlike their male counterparts, the South African women do not yet have an athlete due to qualify for the Olympics and so the entire squad are eligible for the New Flag place. Indeed, all four of the leading candidates hail from South Africa.
Leading the way is Shanae Williams. Williams is 72nd in the world rankings with 1646 points (rounded to the nearest integer). A win at the African Cup in Troutbeck has helped her case, as has a silver medal at the African Cup in Maselspoort. Her biggest boost, though, came from her bronze medal at the African Championships over the Olympic distance in Hurghada.
Williams’ bronze medal in Egypt stands as her only score in her “current” period worth more than 200 points. At 401 points, its importance cannot be understated.
At the same time, the closest challenger to Williams received an eve greater boost from the Hurghada race.
Vicky Van Der Merwe only made her return to international triathlon just over a year ago after an absence of over 5 years. In the ensuing 12 months, she has rocketed up the world rankings and now finds herself in 84th place, a stone’s throw from Williams.
With 1545 points, she is only 101 points away from her compatriot. Her biggest points haul came from her win at the African Championships in Hurghada. That result alone was worth a whopping 510 points. In addition, Van Der Merwe won the African Sprint Championships in Blue Bay. In doing so he added another handy 383 points to her account.
Van Der Merwe does not yet have the African Cup medals to match Williams. Moreover, Williams finished 11th at the Tongyeong World Cup. On the World Cup level, Van Der Merwe has a best finish of 20th in 2023 but that has not made it into her six “current” scores.
The race between Williams and Van Der Merwe will therefore go down to the wire in all likelihood. Williams is the younger athlete and has made some notable improvements on the World Cup level. Yet Van Der Merwe’s double championship gold makes her impossible to ignore.
It could equally be the case that neither Williams nor Van Der Merwe take the New Flag slot.
A win at the Asia Cup in Hong Kong has propelled Amber Schlebusch up 8 places in the world rankings to 88th. With 1478 points, she is hot on the heels of her compatriots.
A former NCAA champion in triathlon, Schlebusch also won the Americas Cup in Sarasota earlier in the season. She took the silver medal between Van Der Merwe and Williams in Hurghada. If she is to overhaul her teammates, though, she may need to translate her impressive Continental Cup form to the World Cup level.
Bridget Theunissen is the fourth South African woman in the New Flag conversation. She has 1338 points and is ranked 100th in the world. Her “current” points total is actually similar to that of Williams; the difference between the two primarily comes from the disparity in “previous” period points.
A silver medal at the African Sprint Championships stands as Theunissen’s best score. Catching her compatriots will likely require further trips to international podiums.
Kahina Mebarki of Algeria is the next woman in contention and the first not from South Africa. She has 1245 points and is ranked 110th. While she finished 4th and 3rd at the African Championships over the Olympic and Sprint distances, respectively, she has a fair amount of ground to make up in the coming months.
A 400 points gap is not impossible to close. On balance, though, it seems that South Africa will be the destination of women’s African New Flag slot.
