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Benjamin Richardson hadn't spent an hour celebrating doing the unthinkable on day three of the ASA Senior Track and Field Championships when Lythe Pillay stunned all friend and foe at the Umsunduzi Athletics Track with surely what must rank as the performance of the championships, even with one day remaining.
Not only had Richardson beaten world 400m record holder Wayde van Niekerk in the 200m final, his 20.16sec winning time also qualified him for the Olympics. But the buzz from Richardson's coming of age moment had barely died down when Pillay dropped an Olympic qualifier of his own which also happened to be the third fastest time in the world in the 400m.
So, if 20-year-old Richardson had "dethroned" Van Niekerk in his less proficient event, Pillay, 21, had scampered his way to the front of the queue in the nation's consciousness in terms of the man likeliest to replace the veteran in his actual event.
