Cape Town - There weren’t any Olympic qualifying times or distances, but Chris Harmse and Orazio Cremona produced standout performances at the third Athletics South Africa Night Series meet in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday night.
Veteran hammer thrower Harmse was almost a metre short of his winning distance at the SA national championships in Stellenbosch at the weekend, but still managed to go beyond the 72-metre mark (72.49m) at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University stadium.
The 42-year-old Harmse couldn’t reach the 77.00m Olympic qualifying mark, but will hope that he can do that for the first time since 2012 in the next few months before the Rio Games in August.
Cremona, 26, was just 45cm short of qualifying with a good throw of 20.05m on Tuesday night. He missed the 20.50m mark by 1cm last year as well, but will have enough opportunities around the world to go through to Rio in the next three months.
There were three athletes who will definitely be going to Brazil who triumphed on the night, with of them coming in the respective 400m races. In the women’s event, hurdles star Wenda Nel – who produced a world-class 54.84 in claiming the SA 400m hurdles title at the weekend – had a solid training run in the 400m flat as she cruised to a 53.02.
Star 800m runner Nijel Amos, who hails from Botswana, also got in some valuable speed work in the men’s 400m as he emerged victorious in 45.73. Amos, an 800m silver medallist at the 2012 London Olympics as a teenager, has beaten world record holder David Rudisha of Kenya before, and is sure to run in a few Diamond League meets soon.
The third probable Olympian on show was SA 110m hurdles champion Antonio Alkana of the Bellville Athletic Club in the Western Province, who sailed to a 13.67 win on Tuesday night.
A strong head-wind affected his time, as it was markedly slower than the 2016 world-leading time of 13.37 – an Olympic qualifier – which he recorded on Saturday in Stellenbosch.
There was an upset in the men’s 1 500m, as newly crowned SA champion Folavio Sehohle came fourth on Tuesday night in PE with a 3:44.40. Dumisane Hlaselo, who came second in Stellenbosch, won the race in 3:39.49 as he held off Jerry Motsao, who finished on 3:39.74.
SA record holder Johan Cronjé was scheduled to participate, but withdrew just before the race. He took to Twitter to explain that he had been “struggling with a hamstring since this weekend”, but said that he had “no excuses for SAs (championships) though; the guys beat me fair and square” after coming third in Stellenbosch.
Selected Results
MEN
Hammer Throw
1 Chris Harmse 72.49m
2 Tshepang Makhethe 67.15m
3 Carel Haasbroek 61.06m
Shot Put
1 Orazio Cremona 20.05m
2 Jaco Engelbrecht 19.15m
3 Burger Lambrechts junior 17.38m
400m Hurdles
1 Bernard Pretorius 51.04
2 Lindsay Hanekom 51.04
3 PC Beneke 51.35
400m
1 Nijel Amos (Botswana) 45.73
2 Shaun de Jager 46.07
3 Barend Koekemoer 47.45
1 500m
1 Dumisane Hlaselo 3:39.49
2 Jerry Motsao 3:39.74
3 Jeromy Andreas 3:43.37
110m Hurdles
1 Antonio Alkana 13.67
2 Tshepo Lefete 13.75
3 Ruan de Vries 13.87
WOMEN
1 500m
1 Lebogang Phalula 4:20.63
2 Simoney Weitsz 4:22.03
3 Mandie Brandt 4:22.09
200m
1 Tamzin Thomas 23.89
2 Lydia Jele (Botswana) 24.02
3 Robyn Haupt 24.57
400m
1 Wenda Nel 53.02
2 Christine Botlhogetswe (Botswana) 53.13
3 Goitseone Seleka (Botswana) 54.05
100m Hurdles
1 Claudia Heunis 13.72
2 Lizzy Kriel 14.22
3 Janke van Wyk 14.32