World Champion Luvo Manyonga is ready to open his season as he prepares to defend his title later this year in Doha. “I am really looking forward to jumping again!” said an excited Manyonga, “I took a little bit of time off at the end of last year to rest properly because I know that the next 18 months are so important with both the World Champs and Olympics coming up”.

Manyonga has been tucked away at a training camp for most of the start of this year, and feels that this training base is exactly what he needs as he continues to pursue his dream of being the first person to jump over 9m. “The 9m goal is definitely something I think about a lot and it’s what drives me to put in the hard work. There are these magical barriers in human performance and I want to be the man that breaks one of them to show people what can be done if you are focused and dedicated”.

Lee-Roy Newton, group MD, is also looking forward to seeing Manyonga compete again “Luvo always competes with such joy and enthusiasm, which makes him such a pleasure to watch. He has put in some good work over the past few months and the SA championships will be the perfect place to launch his season and build up to Tokyo 2020”.