SA prominent marathoner Elroy Gelant is pleased with his preparations for the Olympic Games after he recovered from a back injury.

On Sunday, the 34-year-old Potchefstroom-based athlete clocked 02:11:22 to win the Retail Capital Langa Marathon in Cape Town.

Motlokoa Nkhabutlane of Lesotho finished in second place with a time of 02:11: 32, while his compatriot Tsepo Ramashamole settled for third place at 02:11:32.

Gelant secured a fourth-place finish when he ran 2:10:30 in the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in 2019 to qualify for the Olympic Games.

The SA men's Olympic marathon standard qualifying time is 2:11:45 and Gelant has run the Olympic qualifying time twice. Stephen Mokoka, Desmond Mokgobu and Gelant are in the men's marathon squad, with Gelant running the third-fastest qualifying time

“I am pleased with my time and I used the marathon as part of my preparations for the Olympic Games. Last year, I injured my back in London and that held me back a little bit. I did many rehabs last year until I eventually started to train and run again. I had about a 14-week block of training behind me and I thought that this marathon would be an ideal Olympic preparation for me going into Tokyo. I also wanted to see where I am lacking in terms of fitness," Gelant told Sowetan.

Gelant and his coach Jean Verster are optimistic that he will regain his full fitness with more than a month before the start of the Olympics.

“It is encouraging to run another Olympic qualifying time after being out for so long due to injury. I am confident that I will head to Japan as a renewed athlete. My body responded well to this marathon and that I was not that tired as I told myself from the onset that I want to use this race as a preparatory run. I am pleased with the whole outcome," he said.