Gerda Steyn (born 3 March 1990) is a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

and

ultramarathon An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of . The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running. Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the ...

athlete. She set the down-run record for the 90 km

Comrades Marathon The Comrades Marathon is an ultramarathon of approximately which is run annually in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. It is the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon race. The dire ...

in 2023 with a mark of 5:44:54, becoming the fourth woman under 6 hours for that race. She also holds the record for the 56 km

Two Oceans Marathon The Two Oceans Marathon is a ultramarathon and half-marathon held annually in Cape Town, South Africa with the ultramarathon held on a Saturday in April and the half marathon held the next day on the Sunday. It was previously held on Easter w ...

and has won that event 6 consecutive times, starting in 2018. On 11 April 2021, she became the SA marathon record holder with a time of 2:25:28 at the Xiamen Tuscany Camp Elite Marathon in Siena, Italy. She then broke her own record at the 2023 Valencia marathon, setting a time of 2:24:03.

Early life

Her parents are Pieter and Trudie Steyn. Gerda grew up on a farm in the

Bothaville Bothaville is a maize farming town situated near the Vaal River in the Lejweleputswa DM of the Free State province, South Africa. It is situated 60 km east of the Vaal, on the bank of its Vals River tributary. Bothaville and the adjacent Kg ...

area and completed her schooling in 2008 at the Bothaville High School. Afterwards, she qualified as a quantity surveyor from the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State (; Sotho language, Sesotho: ''Yunivesithi ya Freistata'') is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It wa ...

. She has a sister and a brother.

Career

In 2014 she went to work in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

and joined a running club, where she discovered her talent for running. After completing her first Comrades in 2015, she met 1991 winner Nick Bester who became her coach. Her first major career victory was in the 2018

, in a time of 3:39:32. She won the 2019

in a record time of 5 hours, 58 minutes, and 53 seconds, becoming the first woman to complete the uprun in under six hours. She also won the 2019

in a time of 3:31:28. She won it for the fifth time in a row in 2024 and broke her course record with a time of 3:26:54. She competed in the women's marathon at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. Her best time for a standard marathon is the SA record of 2:25:28, achieved in 2021 at the 2021 IAAF Xiamen Tuscany Camp Elite Marathon in Siena, Italy, breaking the previous 25-year-old SA record by more than a minute. At the 2023

Valencia Marathon The Valencia Marathon (; also known as Marathon Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon road running event hosted by Valencia, Spain, since 1981. It is categorized as a Platinum Label Road Race by World Athle ...

, Steyn finished in 11th running a time of 2:24:03 becoming the South African national record holder for the event.

Results

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steyn, Gerda Living people 1990 births South African female long-distance runners South African female marathon runners South African ultramarathon runners People from Lejweleputswa District Municipality Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for South Africa University of the Free State alumni Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century South African sportswomen