It’s almost as if every time Adriaan Wildschutt steps onto the track, he sets a new South African record.
The 2024 Paris Olympics 10,000m finalist was up to his usual tricks once more in his opening race of 2025 when he lined up in the 5,000m event at the Boston University Last Chance indoor meeting on Sunday.
The 26-year-old long-distance star from Ceres in the Western Cape – who has been based in the United States for a number of years and operates from Flagstaff, Arizona – also holds the SA outdoor records in the 3,000m, 5,000m and 10,000m events.
In the indoor arena, Wildschutt has the top marks in the 3,000m and 5,000m as well.
So, he was chasing his own SA indoor record of 12:56.67 that he set in Oslo, Norway last year when he stood at the starting line in Boston on Sunday.
Wildschutt stayed in the middle of the pack for the first half of the race, but with about seven laps to go out of 25, he settled into third spot behind leader Ky Robinson and Nico Young.
With five laps left, Young made his move to the front, and he was quickly followed by Wildschutt as they left Robinson behind.
But while the South African did well to stay in the hunt, Young stormed away with three laps to go, and set a new personal best of 12:51.56, which was a world lead time, and also the second-fastest American indoor time and fifth-fastest in indoor history.
Wildschutt, though, was delighted with his second position in a time of 12:55.02, eclipsing his previous SA record of 12:56.67.
“First race in over 6 months, happy to be back competing hard,” Wildschutt posted on his Facebook page afterwards.
“Came away with a new South African 5000m indoor Record of 12:55.
“Good start to the year for me, let’s keep building on that.”
Wildschutt’s exploits is all part of the SA build-up to the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China from March 21-23.
A number of SA athletes have opted to tackle the indoor circuit this year, with 800m star Prudence Sekgodiso and middle-distance athlete Tshepo Tshite setting new national records in the 800m and mile respectively.
Olympic relay silver medallist Akani Simbine has also tackled the indoor arena for the first time in his illustrious career this year, clocking 6.57 seconds in the 60 metres in Berlin in mid-February.