South African discus thrower Simone Kruger has set her sights on defending her title at the next Paralympic Games, which will be hosted in Los Angeles (LA), United States, in 2028.
Kruger currently holds the world record (38.10 m) in the Women’s F38 discus, a mark she set at the 2023 World Para Championships. She also successfully defended her crown at the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi, India, earlier this year.
With preparations already underway for the LA 2028 Paralympics, Kruger has challenged herself to continue improving, even though she has already achieved major milestones early in her career.
Reflecting on her gold medal-winning journey, the discus thrower shared that each challenge she has faced has taught her valuable lessons and contributed to her development as an athlete.
“It was an interesting World Champs for me. I had a lot of difficult situations that I had to overcome, but I felt like in the end it was a lot of success,” Kruger told Independent Newspapers.
“We went through difficulties with classification, and it didn’t go as planned. I got sick the day before I competed, so it was one of my hardest World Champs, but I learned a lot of lessons, and at the end it worked out the way we wanted it to.”
Kruger has established herself as one of South Africa’s fiercest competitors, consistently breaking barriers and setting new standards. With the competition continuing to grow stronger, she has already outlined her goals for the next Paralympic cycle.
“I have reached the highest I can in my sport. I don’t know if I can go higher than the world record at the Paralympics,” she continued.
“I have gold in the World Champs, I also have gold and a Paralympic record, and I feel like what can top that maybe is the world record at the Paralympics.
“I feel like if I continue putting in the effort and enjoy the sport, everything can start moving in the direction of LA 2028.”
Team South Africa took a small squad to New Delhi but still managed to return home with four medals—two gold and two bronze. Kruger believes that, given the limited number of athletes, the team performed exceptionally well.
“We got four medals overall. We had a really small team, and I think we did better than we had in the last few years because we only had five athletes, and we managed to get four medals from the five athletes.”
Being an athlete in South Africa, particularly in athletics, is not always the most rewarding path due to limited financial opportunities and uncertainty. Aware of this reality, Kruger has explored other ambitions outside of sport while maintaining a careful balance between her studies and her life as an athlete.
The 20-year-old has had to juggle her athletic commitments with her sports science studies—an ongoing challenge she continues to navigate successfully.
“It is always difficult because being an athlete and also a student, you don’t have enough hours in a day, but it’s something you have to do.
“Sometimes you will feel like you prioritise your sport more, and sometimes it feels like you prioritise studies more. Like now, we are writing exams, and I do not train a lot because there isn’t time for it. It’s all about figuring out your balance.”she concluded.
