Reviewed by: Liv George
South Alabama’s Francois Prinsloo follows up national title with trip to the Olympics
Francois Prinsloo has been living the dream in 2024.
In June, he helped claim South Alabama’s fourth national title in men’s track and field by winning the discus competition at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Now, he’s getting ready to compete in the 2024 Olympics with South Africa.
Keep reading to find out more about Prinsloo + find out how you can watch him compete in Paris.
This is the second part in our series highlighting Olympians with ties to the state of Alabama. Do you know of any Alabama athletes set to compete in Paris? Let us know so we can add them to our series.
Francois Prinsloo
Prinsloo was born in Kenya but he lived and went to high school in South Africa. He lettered three years in rugby and four years in track and field at Worcester Gimnasium in South Africa, setting the school record in the discus.
Before heading to South Alabama, he was a two-time South African national discus champion in 2018 and 2019. He also won the 2018 African Games championship in discus.
Prinsloo has spent the last five years at South Alabama, competing in multiple throwing events including weight, hammer, shot put and discus. He was a two-time All-American at discus, including setting a school record with a discus throw of 65.85 meters.
His personal record in discus was a 67.26-meter throw during a qualifier for the Olympics. That distance would have been good enough for a bronze medal in the 2020 Olympics.
How to watch
Prinsloo is looking to become the first South African to medal in discus since 2000 when Frantz Kruger grabbed bronze.
While the first event is officially slated for July 24 (Opening Cermony on July 26), Prinsloo will begin his competition Monday, August 5. Here’s what you need to know:
- August 5: Discus qualifying round, 3:10AM central time
- August 7: Finals, 1:20PM
- Streaming on Peacock
While the discus competition will only be shown live through streaming, you can watch NBC Primetime coverage every night during the Olympics for select events to be shown beginning at 7PM.
Do you know any athletes with local ties that will be competing in Paris? Send us an email to let us know what they are competing in!
