‘Keep on pushing’: SA running sensation Adriaan Wildschutt on inspiring others and staying grounded

South African Olympian and distance runner Adriaan Wildschutt (27) gravitated to the sport by coincidence. His older brother, Nadeel Wildschutt, was the runner of the family. The younger Wildschutt’s focus was on almost every sport, including his favourite, rugby – until he decided to join his brother on a practice run one day while he was still in high school. Now he is one of South Africa’s best distance runners.

To add to his growing legacy since that decision more than a decade ago, Wildschutt clinched victory in the men’s race of the prestigious New York City Half-Marathon on Sunday, 15 March, becoming the first South African to win the race.

However, Wildschutt, who made his Olympic debut at the Paris-hosted 2024 Olympic Games, is choosing to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground. It’s this humility that has opened many doors for him throughout his life.

“I don’t actively walk out of the door every day thinking about how much I’m going to change the world or that I want to inspire someone,” Wildschutt told Daily Maverick from the US, where he is based these days.

“The way we were brought up at home is about action. There’s no time I remember from my childhood where my brother didn’t say to me ‘keep on pushing’ while we were running. Why? Because he led by example. I could see how much he pushed himself when we were running together and that spurred me on.

“I know a lot of people draw inspiration from me, both at home and here in the US. That’s obviously a huge honour. But it’s also a huge responsibility because now I have to carry myself in a certain manner, which I am fine with,” Wildschutt said.

“However, the most important thing for me is to just do my job. I just focus on the things that I’m good at and becoming better. Because I can give all this inspiration to other people, but if I can’t do my basic job, they have nothing to look up to.

“If I do the things I’m supposed to do, that will automatically inspire people. They will look at me and think, ‘This guy keeps on doing his thing. Regardless of how many records he’s broken or any other accomplishments he’s managed, he just keeps on pushing.’ So, for me that’s what it’s about. It’s not about a one-time performance.”

Don’t believe the hype

Wildschutt says that, as he has matured as both a ­person and an athlete, he has come to realise that he will always receive attention when he does well. However, he does not become intoxicated by the hype. His focus is merely on becoming better.

When he is overwhelmed by the spotlight created by his success, he merely thinks back to the times he and his brother were running for fun in the farming town of Ceres in the Western Cape.

“No matter what I accomplish, I just want to stay grounded – to stay close to the people who support me whether I win or lose. That’s the only way you can extract that work ethic again and again. You have to tell yourself: ‘I am the underdog.’ So, I always go back to those early mornings with my brother when we didn’t have much. Each one of us had one pair of shoes to run in, and they were already run-down. But still, we woke up every morning and ran for our dreams.”

Years later, both Wildschutt brothers are great runners in their own right. But it’s the younger sibling who keeps smashing the record books. He holds South African records in a number of distances: the 3,000m, 5,000m and his favourite, the 10,000m (26:50.64), as well as the half-marathon.

He set his South African milestone in the 10,000m during his Olympic debut in 2024. His time surpassed every previous Olympic final in history as he broke the Games record by 10 seconds, and he would have beaten those winners by at least 60m.

In a highly competitive final at Stade de France, the top 13 finishers all broke the Olympic record that day, with Wildschutt finishing 10th. Nevertheless, he still has fond memories of that experience.

“When I joined my brother for that first run, I never thought I’d become an Olympian, not in my wildest dreams,” Wildschutt said. “It was an out-of-body experience. People will understand what I mean once they read my book, which will be released in May.”

Zola Budd-Pieterse connection

His unlikely dream was accelerated by a helping hand from a South African running great: Zola Budd-­Pieterse. The Olympian initially recruited both Wildschutt brothers to the US collegiate system when she coached at Coastal Carolina University.

Budd-Pieterse, who has since relocated to South Africa and works as a therapist at Stellenbosch High School, helped secure bursaries for both of them, and they stayed with her and her husband, Mike Pieterse, in Myrtle Beach while they were studying.

The elder sibling moved first in 2017 and Wildschutt followed in January 2018. Both brothers eventually completed their undergraduate degrees in Carolina, and Wildschutt went on to earn an MBA from Florida State University in 2022.

“I tried to give the brothers a safe space, the same space that I would give to my own children. For me it didn’t matter whether they ran well or not – I was the same person to them. What was important was the process of them becoming better athletes and people,” Budd-Pieterse told Daily Maverick.

“I’m extremely proud of Adriaan for the human being he has become. My motto has always been ‘better humans make better athletes’, not the other way around. Better athletes do not always make better humans. So, as a human he has developed amazingly and he has remained humble. His grit and his training discipline are also amazing,” she said.

Wildschutt said he is eternally grateful for how Budd-Pieterse and her family were so welcoming to him and his brother, adding that the former runner “looked out for us. She helped us financially, emotionally and played a pivotal role in our development.”

It was when he was living in Florida that Wildschutt realised he could become a professional athlete and earn a living just by running. He already had his undergraduate degree, and though he did not necessarily need it, he also did the MBA.

He keeps both degrees in his back pocket in case something unfortunate happens with running. For now, that’s where they remain.

Despite being a fully fledged world-class runner, Wildschutt says rugby remains his favourite sport. “I follow it even more than athletics, regardless of where I am in the world. So it’s innate to me; I really love it,” he said. “Even my sporting heroes growing up were not from athletics. They were all rugby players. Especially Schalk Burger – his ferociousness intrigued me. He never gave up.

“That’s the same attitude I have when I run: regardless of what the world throws at me, I keep going ­forward.” DM

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.