Earlier this week, Khubeka became the first man to run under six hours over the 100km distance.
Earlier this week, in Italy, Sibusiso Kubheka emerged as the best kept secret in South African ultra-distance running.
Kubheka was one of five athletes who participated in a 100km time trial hosted by Adidas in an attempt to break the six-hour barrier for the first time.
The time trial was held on a 12.5km loop at the Nardo Ring, a circuit used by Porshe to test its vehicles.
A marketing stunt to promote a new super shoe, the performances of the athletes were not considered for record purposes as the shoes they wore were not ‘legal’ in terms of World Athletics rules.
Despite the results not officially counting towards anything, the sub-six attempt drew some interest, with Adidas mirroring Nike’s recent attempts to promote its brand by giving athletes as much assistance as possible to break seemingly impossible barriers.
When the list of the five participants was unveiled, Kubheka was the only South African, and to me it felt like he had simply been added to the line-up to ensure all five athletes were from different countries. I figured he would probably finish well off the pace, if he finished at all.
Oh how wrong I was. Kubheka not only ran more than six minutes under the official world record, but he was the only runner of the five to break six hours, stopping the clock at 5:59:20.
Untested over ultra distances
It’s not that Kubheka hasn’t been a useful athlete in the past, he just hasn’t done much in his career to really stand out.
He holds some reasonably quick personal bests over shorter distances, having run 28:39 over 10km and 1:01:36 in the half-marathon.
However, he had run only two ultra-marathons before this week, both over 50km, with a best performance of 2:42:57 achieved at the Nedbank Runified race in Gqeberha in 2021 where he finished fifth.
None of these performances really suggested he had the ability to run under six hours over 100km, even with the assistance he received from Adidas this week.
But while he was a broken man when he crossed the finish line, Kubheka stuck up his hand as the latest sensation in South African ultra running.
He remains untested on hilly courses, so there’s no guarantee that this latest result will translate into victories at the Comrades or Two Oceans races, but he has proved he has the legs to push the pace and still go the distance.
It will be interesting to see how he does on more brutal courses on home soil, and he is clearly an exciting prospect.
If we didn’t look twice at him before, Kubheka has ensured we will take note of him in future. And even though his 100km effort won’t be ratified as a record, it was a very impressive performance that will be remembered for many years to come.
