She obliterated the field once more in Rome this week, and now Caster Semenya is setting her sights on Olympic gold.
The 25-year-old South African won her third 800m Diamond League event of the season at the Olympic Stadium on Thursday night by equalling her world-leading 2016 time of 1:56.64, which saw her win by more than a second from Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba.
Semenya has been in sparkling form this year, where she completed her domestic season with a triple title haul at the South African championships in Stellenbosch in the 400m, 800m and 1 500m.
The North West athlete, who was born and bred in Limpopo, has been entered in the two longer distances for the African Championships in Durban from June 22-26. But having claimed the silver medal in the 800m at the 2012 London Olympics, Semenya wants to go one step further in Rio de Janeiro in August.
“Now I need to be consistent, to maintain this shape until the Olympics. My dream, my main goal is of course Olympic gold. I am very pleased with the time. I did a lot of travelling with very little rest. I am trying to keep up the shape – it is not easy,” Semenya told the Diamond League website after her race in Rome.
“Getting the gold medal in Rio is very important for me. Now is the right time – I got a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics and now I can run at a fast pace.”
Semenya adopted her old tactics of staying in the bunch for most of the race, and then streaking away from the field in the last 100m. Running a number of 400m races this year has improved her speed considerably, which allows her to produce that final kick towards the end.
“I will try to improve more in tactical races,” she said. “We worked more on speed because coming from behind like in this race, it is not easy to adjust to the pace, you are not sure (how) to execute well on the home straight.
“It is not easy to maintain such a performance and I must not relax because I won. I will go back for the African Championships. I will do the 800m in the Olympics even though I also qualified for the 400m, maybe I will run more 400m races next year? I want to make the South Africans proud.”
Meanwhile, world championship bronze medallist Sunette Viljoen will hope to continue her good form in the javelin at Sunday’s Diamond League event in Birmingham.
Viljoen produced a winning effort of 61.95m in Rome, well off her season’s best of 65.14m, which ranks her at No 1 in the world for 2016. But conditions were tricky on the night, and the SA champion was just pleased to get the win.
“It was a very tough competition. We had pole vault and javelin at the same time and we had to wait too long,” Viljoen told the Diamond League website. “It was not about the distance, but about the mental strength. You had to keep away from it, stay focused. It is my third time in Rome, but first victory. So I am just smiling.”
The second South African who will compete in Birmingham is national 100m record holder Carina Horn, who will line up against Dutch star Dafne Schippers.
@IndyCapeSport