Gerda Steyn (born 3 March 1990) is a South African

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , 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 are also wheelchair div ...

and

ultramarathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

athlete. She set the

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 direc ...

down-run record in 2023 with a mark of 5:44:54, becoming the fourth woman under 6 hours for that race. 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.

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 Kgo ...

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 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 was first established as an institution of higher learning in ...

. She has a sister, Estie, and a brother, Stefan.

Career

In 2014 she went to work in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

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

Two Oceans Marathon The Two Oceans Marathon is a 56 km / 35-mile ultramarathon and 21 km half-marathon held annually in Cape Town, South Africa on the Saturday of the Easter weekend. Known globally as "the world's most beautiful marathon",Hamlett, Alison ...

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

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

in a time of 3:31:28, and won it for the fourth time in a row in 2023, with a record time of 3:29:06. She competed in the women's marathon at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. 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.

Results

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steyn, Gerda Living people 1990 births South African female long-distance runners South African female marathon 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