Semenya in ominous form
Caster Semenya ran her fastest time since 2009 at Sunday’s Rabata Diamong League, crossing the line in a time of 1:56.64.
|||South African athletes sent out warning signals to their rivals at international meets at the weekend with Caster Semenya sounding the loudest one of them all at the Rabata Diamond League on Sunday.
Semenya blasted to her fastest time since 2009 as she made a quality field look average crossing the line in a time of 1:56.64.
“ In training, we try to do tactical races and fast sessions. What you see here is the outcome of the training,” Semenya told the IAAF website.
“Of course, it gives a strong moral boost to beat a strong field like this one. I need to keep working hard in training now and there is more to come.”
Semenya has been in a class of her own this season, and has earned her an aura of invincibility, with the Olympic gold becoming a mere formality, and a world-record breaking run a real possibility.
In her second international race of the season she produced a commanding performance beating the second-placed Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi. Niyonsaba crossed the line in 1:57.74 with Renelle Lamote of France bagging the bronze in 1:58.84.
While Semenya was grabbing international headlines middle-distance ace Elroy Gelant smashed the South African men’s 5 000m record at the FBK Games in Hengelo, the Netherlands on the same day clocking 13:04.88 to finish in fourth place.
The 29-year-old improved the previous record held by Stephen Mokoka by almost seven seconds and smashed his previous best by nearly 10 seconds.
Commmonwealth Games bronze medallist Ruswahl Samaai continued his stellar run of form winning his maiden Diamond League title when he equalled his personal best with a fourth-round jump of 8.38 metres.
This follows on his silver-medal victory in Shanghai last weekend beating Australia’s Fabrice Lapierre by two centimeters with Marquise Goodwin of the United States finishing third with 8.11m.
“This is the best competition I have ever been in, everything was amazing, the new track is also very good,” Samaai told the IAAF. “My technique worked well and my run up is getting better but the most important thing for me is to be consistent in all my competitions because the level in this event is extremely high.”
South African men’s 110m hurdles ace Antonio Alkana unleashed a new personal best time of 13.28 seconds to win the bronze medal.
Alkana’s time was 0.04 seconds off the national record Lehann Fourie set four years ago while he shaved the same amount of time off his previous best.
Former world champion David Olvier of the United States beat Spain’s Orlando Ortega by one hundredth of a second with time of 13.12 for the victory.
Wenda Nel went out strong in the women’s 400m hurdles, taking the early lead before slipping to third place for a bronze medal with a time of 54.88 seconds.
Jamaican hurdler Janeive Russell moved past Nel at the final bend to coast home with a time of 54.69 with Cassandra Tate of the United States crossing the line in second place with 54.69.
Nel’s time was 0.04 second off her season’s best time she set in Stellenbosch in April showing promising form in the build-up to the Rio Olympic Games.
Joint South African women’s 100m record holder Carina Horn finished in a creditable fourth place with a time of 11.28 seconds.
On Friday night South African men’s 400m hurdles record holder LJ van Zyl blitzed to his fastest time in five years with a time of 48.67 seconds at the World Challenge meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
His time is also the second fastest this season over the one-lap hurdles, and a firm warning he is far from a spent force. – The Star