BY THOBILE NDLANGAMANDLA (INTERN)
CAPE TOWN — Eswatini sprint star Bongiwe Mahlalela clocked a new 100m personal best of 12.22 seconds at the Akani Silver Meeting in South Africa, improving from her recent 12.26 seconds as she continues her push towards the 11.99 seconds qualifying standard for the 2026 Commonwealth Games and African Championships.
Mahlalela, popularly known as “Smolly,” delivered the impressive performance against a competitive regional field, highlighting her steady rise in form and consistency this season.
Her latest improvement builds on an already strong recent showing, where she had clocked 12.26 seconds at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) Track and Field Championships in Cape Town while representing Tshwane University of Technology. That performance placed her just 0.2 seconds shy of the required qualifying mark.
“I just have to work on my start—it’s lacking, especially my reaction off the blocks. I’ve been focusing more on endurance in training on purpose because we don’t want my body to peak too early and burn out before the Commonwealth Games,” said Mahlalela.
The national sprint record-holder in both the 100m and 200m women’s categories is now edging even closer to breaking the sub-12-second barrier, a key milestone for international qualification.
Her performance signals strong momentum in what has been a promising season, with visible improvements in speed endurance and race execution.
“Qualifying for the Commonwealth Games will be a confidence booster for me, and I believe it will be achievable before the qualification period closes,” she added.
With more races still ahead, Mahlalela remains firmly on course to challenge the qualifying standard, carrying Eswatini’s hopes as she pushes towards securing her place on the global stage.
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