Just Plain Sport

🇿🇦 RADEMEYER ENDS 24-YEAR SA POLE VAULT WAIT WITH SILVER 🔥

Kyle Rademeyer secured Commonwealth Games pole vault silver in Glasgow on Saturday night, clearing 5.70m to end a 24-year wait for a South African medal in the event and lift Team South Africa's overall haul to 28 — one better than Birmingham 2022.

The 24-year-old from Paarl went over the bar at 5.40m to guarantee himself a spot on the podium, then matched Englishman Owen Heard's 5.70m clearance for a season's best. Both failed at 5.80m, but Rademeyer had done enough. He took silver on countback, having needed only his second attempt to clear 5.70m against Heard's third.

It is South Africa's first Commonwealth pole vault medal since Okkert Brits won gold in Manchester in 2002, and it arrives four years after Rademeyer's own Commonwealth Games dream fell apart before it began.

He was selected for the 2022 Birmingham squad but had to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19, missing the Games entirely. Glasgow was the redo he never got to ask for.

Rademeyer built toward this moment the long way. He left Paarl for the University of South Alabama, where he won the 2023 NCAA Division I outdoor pole vault title with a clearance of 5.70m. The following year he claimed gold at the 2024 African Championships and pushed his personal best out to 5.73m in 2025, the mark that made him a genuine medal contender heading into Scotstoun Stadium.

Medal Table

🥇 Kurtis Marschall (Australia) — 5.85m, Games record
🥈 Kyle Rademeyer (South Africa) — 5.70m, silver on countback
🥉 Owen Heard (England) — 5.70m

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🗣️ "Four years ago COVID took that Commonwealth Games away from him before he'd even jumped. Saturday night, Kyle Rademeyer took it back!" – 🎙️Jay
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Australia's Kurtis Marschall was untouchable throughout the final, clearing every height up to 5.80m on his first attempt to claim a third straight Commonwealth title and equal Steven Hooker's 2006 Games record in the process.

He then raised the bar to 5.85m and cleared it on his second attempt, taking sole ownership of the record and closing out the athletics programme at Glasgow 2026 in style.

Heard's three failed attempts at 5.70m proved the difference on countback, handing Rademeyer silver and confirming South Africa's first podium finish in the pole vault since Brits' gold 24 years earlier. India's Dev Kumar Meena finished fourth after failing to clear 5.40m in three attempts, with compatriot Kuldeep Kumar sixth on a best of 5.10m and Wales' Thomas Walley exiting at 5.40m.

Rademeyer's silver capped a heavy day for Team South Africa in Glasgow. Judoka Timothy Meuwsen won silver in the men's -81kg class earlier on Saturday, and Zakithi Nene claimed bronze in the men's 400m.

The pole vault result pushed South Africa's overall medal tally to 28 for these Games, edging out the 27 won in Birmingham four years ago — the same Games Rademeyer never got to compete at.

🎙️ Written By Jay

🇿🇦 RSA SWIMMERS SMASHES RECORD 22-MEDAL HAUL IN GLASGOW 🏊

Congratulations to the South African swimmers, who leave Glasgow with 22 medals, the biggest haul any South African team has ever brought home from a Commonwealth Games. The previous record was 16, set in Delhi in 2010. This one was broken before the final night of competition had even finished.

Six gold, eight silver, eight bronze. South Africa finished second on the swimming medal table, behind only an Australian juggernaut that racked up 37 golds and 76 medals in total. It's the highest South Africa's swimmers have ever placed at these Games,

READ MORE ⬇️
https://justplainsport.com/swimming/south-african-swimmers-smash-record-22-medal-haul-at-commonwealth-games/

🎙️ Written By Jay

🇿🇦 STORMERS SINK SHARKS XV 36-28 🏉

Seven days after being humiliated 41-3 by Boland Kavaliers without scoring a single try, the DHL Stormers XXIII delivered the response Cape Town needed. A five-try demolition of the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV at DHL Stadium sent the coastal rivalry back in their favour, 36-28, and reminded the Carling Currie Cup Premier Division that this young Stormers side is not finished yet.

Nobody inside DHL Stadium needed reminding how bad the Boland scoreline had looked. A 75 percent tackle success rate and zero tries in 80 minutes had raised serious questions about the group's structures heading into round three. Those questions got answered inside four minutes of this one, though not in the way the home fans wanted.

Lyle Matthews finished off a clean break in the third minute to open the scoring for the Sharks, and Tim Swiel's conversion made it 7-0 before most fans had found their seats. It was the kind of soft start that had cost the Stormers XXIII a week earlier. This time, they answered instantly.

Vernon Paulo barged over in the seventh minute, Kyle Smith slotting the extras to level things up. The Stormers XXIII flyhalf would go on to have the game of his season with the boot, but it was the platform up front that set the tone. Wandile Mlaba added a second try in the 21st minute, finishing from the base of a ruck and converted again by Smith, and the hosts had wrestled the lead away inside the opening quarter.

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🗣️ "This is exactly the response we wanted to see from the Stormers XXIII after Boland — no panic, no hiding, just direct answers on the scoreboard!" – 🎙️Jay
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The Sharks were not done in the first half. Ross Braude crossed in the 33rd minute in a well-worked try to bring Durban back within two points, Swiel converting again, before the story of the afternoon arrived two minutes later. Markus Muller, just 19 and making his Carling Currie Cup debut at outside centre, capped off a spell of sharp passing with a clean break to score his first try in the competition. Smith missed the conversion, but the Stormers XXIII still led 19-14 at the break, and the derby had its defining moment.

Muller was one of eight changes to the Stormers XXIII starting side for this fixture, handed his shot alongside fellow Junior Springbok World Champion Danie Kruger and ho**er Altus Rabie among the replacements. All three had been thrown into a group still stinging from Wellington. A senior head coach might have hesitated. Instead, the youngster repaid the faith with the sort of finish that gets remembered long after this scoreline fades.

Kyle Smith stretched the Stormers XXIII advantage further with a penalty shortly after the restart, in the 42nd minute, and the derby looked to be settling into home control. It didn't stay that way for long. Rambo Kubheka powered over for the Sharks in the 55th minute, and Swiel's conversion swung the lead back to the visitors at 22-21 — suddenly the Stormers XXIII were chasing the game they had led for most of the afternoon.

They responded in the way that mattered most. Josh Boulle finished off excellent handling in the 63rd minute, set up by Ezekiel Ngobeni, to put the Stormers XXIII back in front. Six minutes later, a driving maul was finished off by replacement Xola Nyali to make it 33-21 and put real daylight on the scoreboard. Smith converted both, closing out a near-flawless day off the tee that yielded 11 points from the boot alone.

The Sharks were not finished chasing the bonus point. Liam van Wyk, on for the visitors' front row, scored a late consolation try in the 72nd minute, converted by substitute fullback Luan Giliomee to bring the gap back to eight points. But there was no way back from there. The Stormers XXIII saw out the closing stages to close out a 36-28 win that halts the early-season slide and lifts them off the bottom half of the Currie Cup Premier Division log.

For a group that shipped six tries without reply against Boland Kavaliers just seven days earlier, this was the exact kind of statement response Cape Town supporters had been waiting for. Muller's try on debut will be the headline moment, but it was the collective refusal to fold — twice conceding the lead, twice taking it back — that will matter most heading into the next round.

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🇿🇦 TEN BOKS BACK, ONLY TWO MISS OUT FOR ARGENTINA 🏉

Rassie Erasmus has the kind of selection headache most coaches dream about. Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Wilco Louw and more all walking back into camp this week, with only Ox Nche and Franco Mostert ruled out long-term.

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🗣️ "Ten Boks walking back into camp in one week isn't a problem, it's a luxury most coaches would kill for. Rassie just has to be ruthless about who's actually Test-ready!" – 🎙Jay
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Saturday's touring squad announcement just got a lot more interesting.

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://justplainsport.com/rugby/springboks-vs-argentina-2026/

🎉 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEINRICH KLAASEN! THE FINISHER WHO NEARLY WON SOUTH AFRICA ITS FIRST WORLD TITLE 🇿🇦

🌍 2,141 ODI runs
⚡ 1,000 T20I runs at a strike rate of 141.84
💥 174 off 83 balls against Australia
🚀 Fastest fifty in a T20 World Cup final

A calm head. A destructive bat. One of the most feared finishers South African cricket has produced. Happy 35th Birthday, Heinrich Klaasen!

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://justplainsport.com/cricket/heinrich-klaasen-turns-35/

🇿🇦 CHAD LE CLOS CROWNED MOST DECORATED COMMONWEALTH ATHLETE EVER 🏊

Chad le Clos stood on the deck at Tollcross International Swimming Centre on Wednesday night and became the most decorated Commonwealth athlete in history, and for a man who has spent the past five years fighting battles far tougher than any race, the tears told the real story.

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🗣️ "Some records get broken by talent alone. This one got broken by a man who had to fight his own head just to get back in the water, and that's the part that makes it mean something!" – Jay
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🎙️ FULL STORY: https://justplainsport.com/swimming/chad-le-clos-decorated-athlete/

🇿🇦 BRAD BINDER SET FOR BMW WORLDSBK MOVE IN 2027 🏍️

Brad Binder's MotoGP career appears to be entering its final chapter, with mounting reports suggesting the South African is BMW-bound for the 2027 World Superbike Championship.

The move would mark the end of a seven-season stint in the premier class and the start of an unexpected new one on production-based machinery.

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://justplainsport.com/motogp/brad-binder-bmw-worldsbk-2027/

🎉 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUAN SMITH! THE FLANKER WHO SURVIVED FIVE SURGERIES TO WIN IT ALL TWICE 🇿🇦

There are flankers who play the position with craft and guile. And then there are those who play it like a threat to public safety. Juan Smith belonged firmly in the second category. Born on 30 July 1981, in Bloemfontein, he turns 45 today.

Happy Birthday, Juan. From all of us at Just Plain Sport — you turned five surgeries and a written-off career into a Heineken Cup medal and a 70th Test cap; that is not a comeback story, it is a refusal.

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://justplainsport.com/rugby/juan-smith-turns-45-birthday/

🇿🇦 SOUTH AFRICAN SWIMMERS SIGN OFF IN STYLE: SIX MEDALS ON THE FINAL DAY AT TOLLCROSS 🏊

Six medals. One session. A four-time Commonwealth Games record breaker and a piece of sporting history that will never be matched again.

That was Wednesday night at Tollcross International Swimming Centre, where the South African swimmers closed out the pool programme at Glasgow 2026 in a way nobody in that arena will forget in a hurry.

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://justplainsport.com/swimming/south-african-swimmers-six-medals/

🚨 THREE-PIET COETZÉ! 🥇🥇🥇
Pieter Coetzé just completed the golden sweep at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow!

🥇 50m backstroke ✔️�🥇 100m backstroke ✔️ (51.77 – new African & Games record)�🥇 200m backstroke ✔️

🥇Three events. Three golds.
💪 One absolute champion.

What a statement from South Africa’s backstroke king. Absolute dominance in the pool! 🇿🇦🔥

Huge congratulations Pieter – you’ve made the nation proud!



– Jay | JustPlainSport