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Astonishing Gerda Steyn is that rare athlete who comes around once in a generation

Astonishing Gerda Steyn is that rare athlete who comes around once in a generation
Gerda Steyn gives thanks after winning the 2024 Comrades Marathon in a record time.(Photo: Darren Stewart/Gallo Images)
Keanan Hemmonsbey
By Keanan Hemmonsbey
13 Apr 2025
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She’s South Africa’s queen of the ultramarathon and she’s ageing like fine wine.

Gerda Steyn’s Two Oceans ultramarathon victory on 5 April was nothing short of spectacular as she beat second-placed Shelmith Muriuki from Kenya by more than eight minutes.

As usual, Steyn (35) crossed the finishing line at the University of Cape Town with a broad smile and it only grew bigger as the final steps of the gargantuan task she had undertaken grew closer.

Steyn’s race was tactical and executed to perfection, leaving her competitors in the dust throughout the picturesque 56km trek around Cape Town.

But for those watching every stride of South Africa’s greatest woman ultramarathon runner to date, there was first a sense of anticipation and then a hint of disappointment at her crossing the finishing line in 3:29:10. Yes, she had claimed a record-extending sixth consecutive Two Oceans ultramarathon win, but she didn’t improve the record times she had set the previous three times she had completed the race.

Read more: Gerda Steyn hits big six in Two Oceans ultramarathon

It’s a disappointment that has been built up by the incredibly high standard Steyn has set. Her talents have transcended the expectations of simply winning the Two Oceans, and people expect records.

But that’s an expectation of those on the outside, who perhaps aren’t able to comprehend the level of achievement Steyn continues to reach year after year.

For context, her 2025 Two Oceans time of 3:29:10 has only been run faster by a woman athlete on two occasions, and both times it was Steyn who did it. She finished in a rapid 3:29:06 in 2023 and set the record of 3:26:54 last year.

Steyn is also the only woman to date to have completed the Two Oceans ultramarathon in under three and a half hours. She’s done so four times.

A happy accident


Apart from the phenomenal ultramarathon road running Steyn has displayed since 2018, perhaps most remarkable is that she picked up the sport haphazardly at the ripe old age of 24.

Whereas a 24-year-old is generally considered to be part of society’s youth, it’s a senior age to take up a sport for the first time – and then to thrive at an international level.

After moving to Dubai for work as a quantity surveyor in 2014, Steyn joined a running club in her new country to meet people and make new friends. She had been an occasional runner before and took part in cross-country events while at Bothaville High School in the Free State, but she never excelled at it nor ranked among the small school’s best.

Fast-forward 11 years from the first time she joined a running club and Steyn is among the best in the world. Her first big win came in 2018 when she clinched her first Two Oceans victory in 3:39:32 – just two years after competing in the race for the first time.

Her gift for the longer ultramarathons was apparent and she wouldn’t lose another Two Oceans from the time she burst onto the running scene with that impressive victory.

Gerda Steyn gives thanks after winning the 2024 Comrades Marathon in a record time.(Photo: Darren Stewart/Gallo Images)



Steyn’s very first Two Oceans race was in 2016 when she finished 14th in 4:15:44. Within two years of dialled-in running, she was among the elite runners of the race and finished ahead of many athletes who have been training professionally for years.

Road running was meant to find Steyn and vice versa. That it occurred randomly in Dubai was the happy accident that lit the spark under her fast feet.

Because Steyn started running hundreds and hundreds of kilometres per week so “late” in her life, she’s still finding new gears to reach for in her mid-thirties.

This year’s Two Oceans ultramarathon was an uncharacteristic run by Steyn, who usually paces her attacks patiently before pulling away from the pack with what seems like an extra set of lungs and jet-fast legs that seemingly never feel lactic acid.

Instead, this year Steyn was on her horse from the moment the gun went off in Newlands. At the marathon mark, 42.2km, she clocked a pacy 2:34:21, leaving those chasing her in the dust, with Muriuki already more than three minutes behind at that stage.

The gap between the elite athletes was the result of the work Steyn had done, pushing the pace from the onset, while those behind her slowly fell off, unable to keep up with her relentless pace.

Though not quite old, Steyn is clearly still capable of learning and displaying the lessons she learns.

New tricks


Steyn is a generational talent in ultramarathons, having also found an aptitude for the even longer Comrades Marathon, which she has won three consecutive times. But these achievements haven’t extended to her marathon showings.

Although her performance in the marathon has still been world-class, it isn’t to the same astounding level of her ultramarathon efforts.

She finished 15th at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, coming in at 2:32:10, and was 45th at the Paris Olympics last year with 2:32:51.

Both compatriots Irvette van Zyl (37th) and Cian Oldknow (32nd) finished ahead of Steyn in France – a feat that hasn’t occurred in an ultramarathon for the past six years. However, Steyn had raced and won both the Two Oceans and the Comrades (only two months before) in 2024 and didn’t have fresh legs at the Olympics.

She is obviously passionate about running ultramarathons, but if she were to dedicate her efforts to being one of the best regular marathon runners in the world, she could probably be among those standing on the podium at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

But even if Steyn doesn’t want to do that, and it does seem unlikely, those who are entertained by watching her run can still see her famous wide smile as she crosses the finishing line of South Africa’s toughest ultramarathons. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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