Flying Van Zyl fires Olympic warning

The majority of the spectators in Ostrava had come out to watch Usain Bolt, but the Mestsky Stadium track has always been a happy hunting ground for LJ van Zyl.

And Van Zyl proved it once more by powering to victory at the Golden Spike meet on Friday night.

The 30-year-old 400m hurdler was up against the 2016 world leader, American Johnny Dutch, who ran a 48.36 in the Bahamas last month, as well as Poland’s Patryk Dobek, who beat him in last Saturday’s Diamond League event in Shanghai.

Van Zyl came fourth in 49.13, a season’s best, but on Friday night in the Czech Republic, the South African record-holder meant business. This was the place where he equalled his national mark of 47.66 in 2011, and he told Independent Media this week from Ostrava that he was expecting a fast race on Friday again.

And that is exactly what he got. Van Zyl took the initiative and went out quickly in the opening 200m, and was matched stride for stride by Dutch. As they entered the home straight, though, the American was just ahead and Van Zyl needed to produce one last push for victory.

Van Zyl then turned open the taps and got a burst of speed over the final few hurdles as Dutch faded, and won handsomely in the end in a fantastic time of 48.67, which is not only his fastest time of the year, but also his quickest since 2011. It proves that he is in top shape ahead of the Rio Olympics, and is likely to be a medal contender.

Bolt got the crowd going in the 100m, but didn’t produce the sub-9.8 time he had hoped for in cruising to a comfortable win. He didn’t really have any serious challengers, but after his typically sluggish start, Bolt motored away from the field in the last 50m to run a season’s best 9.98 – the same time run by 400m world champion Wayde van Niekerk earlier this year.

There was some further joy for South African athletics in Ostrava as distance runner Nolene Conrad ran a personal best time of 9:15.56 to finish sixth in the women’s 3 000m. This race is not an Olympic event, but Conrad used the race as speed work to try and qualify for Rio in the 3 000m steeplechase over the next few months.

It was an Ethiopian one-two from Belaynesh Oljira (8:38.55) beating Haftanmesh Tesfay (8:40.80) into second, both personal bests, with Oljira setting a new meeting record.

There was an upset of sorts in the women’s 400m hurdles, with world champion Zuzana Hejnova trailing in third on home soil as Poland’s Joanna Linkiewicz won a slowish time of 55.40.

Jamaican star Kaliese Spencer was beaten into second in 55.43, with Hejnova ending in 55.69. But this was just the start of their campaigns ahead of the Olympics, and they will get quicker closer to the Rio Games in August.

The next major athletics events both take place on Sunday, with a Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, where six South Africans will participate, headed by Caster Semenya, Wenda Nel and Carina Horn.

On the same day in Hengelo in The Netherlands, double South African sprint champion Alyssa Conley will be one of five South Africans taking part in the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games.

Selected Results

Men’s 400m Hurdles

1 LJ van Zyl (RSA) 48.67

2 Johnny Dutch (USA) 49.01

3 Patryk Dobek (Poland) 49.51

Men’s 100m

1 Usain Bolt (Jamaica) 9.98

2 Ramon Gittens (Barbados) 10.21

3 Hassan Taftian (Iran) 10.25

Men’s Pole Vault

1 Renaud Lavillenie (France) 5.83m

2 Shawnacy Barber (Canada) 5.70m