Scott is first South African female athlete to race both 1,500 and 3,000 meters at World Indoors

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Making history hasn’t been the difficult part for Dominique Scott when it comes to her running career.

Because of inconsistent selection criteria from one international meet to another, consistently making South African national teams to showcase her talent on a global stage remains an ongoing challenge for the adidas professional.

But with her recent nomination to compete at the IAAF World Indoor Championships, the former Arkansas standout will have an opportunity to represent her country in memorable fashion at Arena Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Scott, 25, will become the first South African female athlete to race in both the 1,500 and 3,000 meters at World Indoors, the latter featured as the only running final on the schedule Thursday, with the prelims and championship for the former Friday and Saturday.

Gwen Griffiths is the lone South African female athlete to have raced in the 1,500 at World Indoors, placing 15th in 1997 in Paris. Rene Kalmer is the country’s only previous entry in the women’s 3,000, taking eighth in 2010 in Doha, Qatar, equaling the best finish in an event by any South African female in World Indoor history, matching Janice Josephs in the long jump in 2008 in Valencia, Spain.

“South Africa has had and currently has some amazing athletes and I’m proud to be mentioned amongst them. I hope to continue to break SA records and set the bar high for SA track and field,” said Scott, who has already lowered her national indoor records in both events this season.

“I’m definitely very excited to be competing in my first World Indoor Championships. Growing up, I hadn’t even heard of indoor track, to be honest. Most South African athletes don’t take part in the indoor circuit. A lot of them are athletes that came over to the (United States) for college and competed on the NCAA circuit and gained experience running on the indoor track.”

Scott made history for Arkansas in 2014 by anchoring the Razorbacks to their first Division 1 indoor distance medley relay title. She also helped Arkansas repeat in the DMR in 2015, along with winning her first NCAA indoor 3,000 championship.

She followed outdoors in 2016 by becoming only the fifth Division 1 female athlete to double in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the NCAA Championships.

Although she was selected to represent South Africa in the 10,000 at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Scott was passed up for the 2017 IAAF World Outdoor Championships in August in London and again for the Commonwealth Games this April in Australia, despite having the qualifying standards and international credentials to compete at both events.

“Obviously, I was devastated when I wasn’t chosen to compete at the World Championships because our whole training plan last year revolved around that meet,” Scott said. “Then, when I wasn’t selected for Commonwealth Games, it was again very discouraging, but I just decided to focus on what I could control, which was preparing for Millrose and Boston.”

So, when it took South Africa eight days longer than originally scheduled to release its roster for World Indoors, Scott feared the worst again, despite running a national indoor record 8:41.18 on Feb. 3 at the NYRR Millrose Games, followed by a 1,500 record 4:07.25 the following week at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.

Once South African 800 record holder and team manager Hezekiel Sepeng confirmed the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee was just waiting until the end of the World Indoor qualification period before announcing its seven-member team, Scott celebrated the selection Feb. 20 by jumping on her bed and waving her country’s flag.

“It was actually kind of easy this time around,” Scott said. “I was really happy that I wasn’t going to have to go through that process of pleading my case and appealing South Africa to allow me compete. It really is a big relief. I think that my Millrose performance showed them that I do deserve to be on the team.”

While there still is a possibility of Scott being added to the South African roster for the Commonwealth Games, her focus has been solely on preparing in Fayetteville with the current Arkansas distance runners and Razorbacks coach Lance Harter for the biggest indoor opportunities of her career.

“I definitely had to think that I was on the team and that I was going to be going to World Indoors and kind of plan that way. I think that’s how you have to plan out your season. I planned my outdoor season this last year for competing in London and obviously it didn’t quite work out, but I think you always have to plan around the races you want to peak at,” Scott said. “Even though I was kind of training blindly, the collegiate athletes were still training and working toward SECs and nationals, so there still are a lot of people at the track and a lot of people to keep me motivated and inspired and keep going, hoping I get to represent South Africa at the World Champs, which now I get to do.”

Once her selection was official, Scott then had to decide whether to race both events or focus on just one. Being one of eight female athletes ranked in the top 20 in the world this year in both the 1,500 and 3,000 made the decision easier.

“She’s in great shape, so potentially racing three days in a row won’t be a problem for her,” Harter said. “Opportunities like these don’t come around very often, especially for her with everything she’s had to endure in the past year, so I think it’s great that she’s taking advantage of the situation and doing both.”

But the 3,000 could be the highlight of the entire four-day meet, with Scott competing Thursday against two-time defending champion and world-leader Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia, 2016 World Indoor 1,500 gold medalist Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, reigning World Outdoor 5,000 winner Hellen Obiri of Kenya, four-time U.S. Indoor champ Shelby Houlihan, German national record holder Konstanze Klosterhalfen and double European Indoor title holder Laura Muir of Great Britain.

“The 3,000 is definitely my focus, but I also feel like I need as much experience as I can get racing on the world stage,” Scott said. “I will go into the 3,000 not thinking about the 1,500 the next day, and then come back in the 1,500 and try to get a PR and try to qualify for the finals and just really see what I can do. But I’m really putting my focus into the 3,000.”

A short indoor season has come down to a few days and possibly three races in Birmingham for Scott. But her selection and the competition at World Indoors will be instrumental in preparing her for the upcoming outdoor season and racing in March in South Africa. Perhaps she will carry the momentum back home by setting another national indoor record.

“It’s been a little crazy, with booking flights, getting organized and trying to find gear, hoping everything is going to come together,” Scott said. “But my parents and (husband Cameron Efurd) are coming and I know it’s all going to work out, so I’m really excited.”