Decorated local sprinter Antonio Blom has his sights set on one goal: Russia.
Decorated local sprinter Antonio Blom has his sights set on one goal: Russia.
Having been involved in athletics for 13 years, the 25-year-old athlete and Rhodes University student has risen through the ranks to become one of the fastest men over 100 metres in the country.
In 2006 he was recognised as the fastest Grahamstown high school boy ever, completing the distance in a record 10.50 seconds.
Blom has represented the Eastern Cape on eight occasions and the Boland twice, receiving provincial colours for athletics.
He has competed in 10 meets at a national level, winning gold in the 4x100m in 2005 and silver in the same event a year later.
Blom has been selected to participate in the Yellow Pages Athletics Series (now the STS Athletics Invitational) every year since 2008, and was the 2011 STS Sprinter of the Year.
He competed in the Durban leg of the series in December, winning the 60m in 6.97 seconds and placing second in the 150m at the indoor-distance championship.
The poor conditions of the Rhodes Athletics Track have, however, hampered the sprinter’s training, and he has suffered no less than six injuries in the past year due to the uneven surface.
This has made Blom’s ability to compete at top levels very difficult.
Despite this Blom remains determined and motivated, training for the upcoming University Sport South Africa (USSA) Track and Field event.
This will take place on 26 and 27 April in Durban. There he hopes to qualify for the World University Games that will take place in the Russian city of Kazan in July – a realistic target for one of Grahamstown’s most talented sprinters.
