Comrades queen Gerda looks for ‘inspirational story’ as she targets Olympics

For Gerda Steyn, what some might see as biting off a lot to chew winning the Two Oceans and Comrades Marathons before competing at the Olympics, she sees as using those races as a springboard and creating an inspirational story to chase as motivation.

Steyn smashed her up run record of 5 hrs 58 min 53 sec set in 2019 winning Sunday’s 2024 Comrades in 5:49:46.

She has been almost unbeatable on the South African road in ultra-marathons in the last half-decade.

Sunday’s was Steyn’s second consecutive Comrades win. Her Two Oceans ultra-marathon victory two months ago was her fifth in succession, also in record time.

Some coaches and running pundits would see going out to smash records with wins in two ultra-marathons in the months before competing in the Olympic Marathon — with the Comrades just over two months before the race in Paris on August 11 — as going out too hard.

Steyn sees the condition she is in from the Two Oceans and Comrades as her strength, and the challenge as inspiration.

“At the start of each year I sit down and I write my goals down and my plans,” the 34-year-old said in her post-Comrades press conference.

“But as an athlete so many things can influence that — there are so many things that have to go correctly and according to plan for you to be at the level you plan for, and even to be at the start line of the races you set out to do.

“Therefore to be here today after the Two Oceans and Comrades, I can’t say anything other than I’m so humbled and grateful for the year I’ve had, and to be able to build on last year, which I thought was the best year I’d had.

“This year I’ve set myself a different challenge and I’m sure it’s never been done before for an athlete to do the Comrades and Olympics in the same year.

“It’s a big challenge I’ve set and I was very fortunate to be selected to go to the Olympics again.

“I am fully committed to doing my absolute best to make everyone proud when I line up in the green and gold. I feel it’s completely possible. I’ve done similar time frames before in racing so with that I feel quite confident.

“I write my own programmes and I’ve already sat down and written my Olympics programme. I know what I will be focusing on. The race at the Olympics is quite hilly too and I feel it will count in my favour.

“With the training I’ve done with the Two Oceans and Comrades I feel my stamina and long endurance ability are where I want them to be, so I won’t be focusing on that.

“Instead I will focus on speed, track workouts, on getting my legs strong and fast for the challenge of the Olympics.

“So I am very excited for this. And I hope with this big challenge I’ve set myself to not look in a way that people question my choices or whether I’m really focused in the right way.

“I want this challenge to inspire people to do difficult things, because humans are capable of so much more.

“Sometimes it’s easy to go into a comfort zone and do what you do every day. I hope something like this will be inspiring for young athletes — and not just young athletes but older people too, in their professions — to go after difficult things and make a success of it.

“With that thought in mind, that’s how I’m going to approach the Olympics.”

Russian runner Alexandra Morozova, the 2022 winner, was second in 6:05:12 and Courtney Olsen of the US third in 6:08:09.