Former Comrades Marathon champion and now leading road-running coach Nick Bester cannot wait for the women's Olympic marathon (42.2km) scheduled to take place in Sapporo Odori Park, Japan, on Saturday.

The two runners representing SA in the race – Gerda Steyn and Irvette van Zyl – are both coached by Bester in the Nedbank Running Club.

An excited Bester believes both Steyn and Van Zyl will fly the country's flag with pride in Tokyo.

Writing on his social media platforms, he said  preparations for the Olympics have gone well and everything possible has been done to prepare the two runners for the big race.

“Irvette and Gerda are in great form. We changed the programme a little bit by making the hard sessions extremely hard, but then adding in more rest in between for them to recover well. They are both responding  well to the change,” said a confident Bester in his post.

“Overall, they are both strong, and the speed is there. We are just hoping for a relaxed last week before the race with no unexpected health problems, and we are taking all precautions not to get sick before the big day.”

While the Tokyo Games will mark Steyn's debut in the Olympics, Van Zyl is going for her second appearance and she has an unfinished business after bailing out of the race in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Before Van Zyl left for Tokyo, she told the Sowetan that they had prepared well. She broke the 50km world record in the Eastern Cape in May, using the ultra-marathon as part of her endurance training

Free State-born Steyn is better known for her exploits in the ultra-marathons. In 2019 she won both the Two Oceans and Comrades, the last editions of both famous races before the coronavirus outbreak.

In the Comrades she became the first woman to dip under six hours in the up-run, winning it in 5:58:53 seconds.

Her standard marathon (42.2km) personal best of 2:25:28, which she achieved in a race in Siena, Italy, in April became SA's new record.