Cape Town – Sprinter Emile Erasmus was the best of a large group of South African athletes who turned out at the Flanders Cup meeting in Kortrijk, Belgium on Saturday.
Erasmus clocked 10.24 to take second place in the men’s 100m race, and though he was just 0.03 outside his personal best, he enjoyed the benefit of a +3.5m/s tail wind.
The powerhouse speedster crossed the line 0.07 behind 19-year-old Karabo Mothibi of Botswana who secured victory, while compatriot Roscoe Engel finished fourth in 10.41.
Erasmus and Engel also took fourth and fifth positions in 21.29 and 21.37 respectively in the 200m race.
Earlier, the duo had formed part of a national men’s 4x100m team, which was unable to achieve the performance required to qualify for the Olympics on aggregate rankings, after making a final bid ahead of Monday’s deadline.
With a number of the country’s fastest men unavailable for various reasons, they secured a solo victory in 40.03.
Athletics SA had also entered Women’s 4x100m and 4x400m teams, aiming to secure Olympic berths, but both squads were withdrawn due to the unavailability of multiple athletes.
World student 400m champion Justine Palframan held on for second position in the Women’s 200m dash in Kortrijk, crossing the line in 23.79 in windy conditions.
LaVerne Jones-Ferrette of the Virgin Islands won the half-lap race in 23.64.
Long jumper Zarck Visser settled for third spot in the men’s contest with a best effort of 7.62m, with two-time World Championships silver medallist Ignisious Gaisah of the Netherlands producing a 7.98m winning leap.
Visser is one of six men in contention for the Olympic team, to be announced by Sascoc next week, and though he has not gone over the eight-metre barrier this year, he leads the list of qualifiers with his 8.41m Personal Best set last season.
In other contests at the Flanders Cup meeting, Walter Ungerer was disqualified in the Men’s 100m B final, but went on to finish third in the 200m B race in 21.28.
Earlier in the programme, Ungerer had grabbed second spot in his 100m heat in 10.38, pushed by a +3.2m/s wind.
Teenager Braam Bisschop ended fourth in the Men’s 400m B race in 48.09, and rising junior star Jeanelle Griesel, who will form part of the SA team at the World U-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz later this month, was third in the Women’s 400m B race in 55.24.
Middle-distance athletes Gena Lofstrand and Anuscha Nice both crossed the line in podium positions in the Women’s 800m contest.
Manal el Barhaoui of Morocco won in 2:06.98, edging Lofstrand into second spot, just 0.05 off the pace, with Nice ending third in 2:08.51.
Samantha Pretorius took seventh place in the Women’s Long Jump with a final round leap of 6.04m, and though she was short of her best form, she showed tremendous consistency, touching down between 6.01m and 6.04m with four of six attempts.
Stella Marais settled for ninth place in the Women’s 1 500m event, covering the distance in 4:29.97.
Former World Championships bronze medallist Johan Cronje did not finish the Men’s 1 500m race, and he was unable to achieve the required Olympic standard of 3:36.20, narrowly missing out next month’s Games after running within 0.14 of the mark during the window period.
– ANA