OPINION: Distance runner Karabo More is on the rise

While Glenrose Xaba and Tayla Kavanagh have dominated the domestic women’s road running circuit this year over distances ranging from 5km to the half-marathon, a rising star has emerged in their shadows: Karabo More.

More enjoyed a breakthrough season in middle-distance events in 2026, with the 24-year-old athlete winning the African 1,500m title on the track in Ghana and setting a personal best of 4:05.90 in the metric mile in Stellenbosch as she climbed to fifth place in the all-time national rankings. She also reached the final in the mile (1,609m) at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and broke the SA road mile record last week when she won the Parys Crater Street Mile in 4:29.11.

In addition, more recently, she has flaunted her strength over longer distances, producing some impressive times over 10km on the road.

Flaunting her versatility

In the Spar Grand Prix series, she dipped under 33 minutes on three occasions, and she lowered her personal best to 32:20 at the Gqeberha leg of the campaign last month.

Her confidence has clearly been boosted and in the last couple of Grand Prix races this season, she was brave enough to go with her training partner Xaba in the early stages before hanging on for runner-up finishes.

More confirmed recently she would focus on the 1,500m event on the track again next year, setting her sights on the World Athletics Championships to be held in Beijing.

And though she was likely to appear on the local road circuit again, she also hoped to work on her speed by running more 800m races on the track.

Stepping up

The endurance she has displayed over longer distances suggests her career might peak when she steps up to the 5,000m and 10,000m events on the track, and it will be interesting to see how she does over those distances if and when she does make the transition.

Still young for a distance runner, there’s no reason to suggest she should move up any time soon, and her coaches Violet and Caster Semenya have proved with Xaba that they know not to rush things.

So it might be some time before we see More focusing on longer events, and she is likely to improve even further over shorter distances before she does, having indicated she could be on track to become the second SA woman after Semenya to run under four minutes over 1,500m.

But regardless of which distances she chooses to race over the next few years, she has already made her mark as one of the country’s most promising athletes.