Cape Town - Caster Semenya, you golden girl!
The 2012 Olympic silver medallist proved that she is the favourite to go a step further at the Rio Olympics by breaking the South African 800m record at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco on Friday night.
Semenya’s time of 1:55.33 beats her previous national record of 1:55.45, which she ran in 2009 when she won the world title in Berlin.
But the 25-year-old put together the perfect race at the Stade Louis II stadium in Monaco by adopting different tactics from the start. Semenya usually stays in the bunch at the back of the field on the first lap, but on Friday she was tucked in just behind the pace-setter throughout.
And when the Belarus athlete Katsiaryna Belanovich stepped off the track, Semenya remained just in front of the rest of the field, with her main rival Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi keeping up with the pace.
But then Semenya put her foot down as she hit the home straight as she pumped those arms to sprint through the line in a brilliant time of 1:55.33. She showed her delight with a unique little “jig” to go with her usual “dusting off the shoulders” routine she’s known for.
Semenya is now 12th on the all-time 800m list, although still shy of the world record of 1:53.28 by Jarmila Kratochvilova of the Czech Republic and Kenyan Pamela Jelimo’s African mark of 1:54.03.
But it was still a new SA record, meeting record, Diamond League record and world-leading time for 2016.
Wayde van Niekerk held his fire until the field entered the home straight, showcased the gulf in class by motoring to victory as well.
The 400m world champion paced himself well in the opening 300m on his 24th birthday, making up ground on Botswana star Isaac Makwala on his outside from lane five.
Sporting a bright pink bib, Van Niekerk then stretched his legs in the last 100m as he opened up a gap over the rest of the field in the final 50m. It was a victory that was achieved with ruthless efficiently as the favourite for the gold medal at next month’s Rio Olympics stopped the clock at 44.12.
The time was just 0.01 of a second outside his season’s best of 44.11, but it looked as if Van Niekerk had more than enough in reserve. He certainly laid down a marker to his main rivals, American LaShawn Merritt and Kirani James of Grenada – who are the only athletes to have run faster than Van Niekerk in 2016 – that he can go much quicker in Brazil.
“It was a tough race, but I’m taking every small thing as it comes,” Van Niekerk told the Diamond League website after the race. “This is another opportunity I am given to fine-tune my racing. Hopefully by the time the Olympics come, I will be ready.
“It’s a blessing to be able to celebrate my birthday here. All my family is here and I thank the organisers for allowing them to come. I’m looking forward to being back and celebrate with them.”
It was also a memorable event for SA 100m record-holder Carina Horn, who finished third behind Dutch star Dafne Schippers and Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown. A late entry for the competition, Horn was drawn in lane eight, but powered through in third place in 11.14, with Schippers winning in 10.94 and Campbell-Brown second in 11.12.
Recently-turned professional Dominique Scott – who was a college star in Arkansas over the last few years – made an outstanding Diamond League debut on Friday to celebrate her inclusion in Team South Africa for the Olympics as he smashed her personal best by finishing in eighth in a time of 8:46.65.
It wasn’t too far off Elana Meyer’s national record of 8:32.00 and bodes well for Rio, where she is entered in the 10 000m.
It was a disappointing night for African long jump champion Ruswahl Samaai, who has been in excellent form this year. Samaai is ranked fourth in the world in 2016, but couldn’t breach the eight-metre mark as he opened up with 7.93m and 7.92m in his first two jumps, but registered no-jumps in the last six rounds to end fourth.
Wenda Nel also came fourth in the 400m hurdles in 54.93, Sunette Viljoen was fifth in the javelin with 60.13m and Antonio Alkana was seventh in 13.66 in the 110m hurdles.
@ashfakmohamed
IOL