Willem Coertzen

Who is Willem Coertzen?

Willem Coertzen is a South African track and field athlete who competes in the decathlon. He was the silver medallist in the event at the African Championships in Athletics in 2008. He is the current South African national record holder in the event with his score of 8343.

He began taking part in decathlon competitions in 2007 for Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers in the United Kingdom, where he won the South of England Decathlon Championship in Bedford with a total of 7245 points. The following year he returned to his native South Africa to win his first national decathlon title, then recorded a personal best of 7721 points in Réduit. A month later at the 2008 African Championships in Athletics in Addis Ababa, he took the silver medal in the decathlon behind Algeria's Larbi Bouraada and also managed a bronze medal in the pole vault event with a modest clearance of 4.00 m. He underwent a groin operation in November that year, leading him to miss the following year's national championships.

The following May he completed two decathlons: he set a new South African record in the event with a score of 7907 points for third place at the Multistars meeting in Desenzano del Garda. Although he was eleventh at the 2009 Hypo-Meeting in Götzis later that month, he improved his record further with a total of 8054 points, clearing the 8000-point mark for the first time in his career. He was selected to represent his country at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and he significantly improved upon his past marks. Reflecting upon his performance of 8146 points in the men's decathlon in Berlin, he said: "Six personal bests out of 10 events, 14th in the world, and a new national record - who could be unhappy with that?".