It was almost the worse possible weather for sprint hurdles, and a delayed starter’s gun didn’t help LJ van Zyl’s cause at the Diamond League meet in Stockholm.
The officials took an age with the athletes in the starters’ blocks for the 400m hurdles, which saw American Michael Tinsley put his hand up for a fresh start as the pause was way too long.
The second time around, another American in Bershawn Jackson set off too quickly in lane eight as the delay reached farcical proportions once more.
Jackson was unlucky to be disqualified as a result, and it set the tone for a dreary race on a cold Swedish night.
Van Zyl, in lane three, also nearly went off too early the second time around, and was rather cautious for the third time of asking. More drama followed as Tinsley – running alongside the South African champion in lane four – pulled up at around the 200m mark in a race that had promised to produce fireworks considering the strong field, with world champion Nicholas Bett of Kenya was in lane two as well.
But it was Puerto Rican star Javier Culson who kept his composure amid all the chaos, and sped away over the last 50 metres to win in 49.43, well short of his 2016 best of 48.99.
Van Zyl was in second place going into the final bend, but lost some momentum over the last two hurdles to finish fourth in 50.21, which wasn’t a bad effort considering the weather.
American Kerron Clement was second in 49.87, with Poland’s Patryk Dobek third in 49.89.
But Van Zyl will be in a good frame of mind for next weekend’s African Championships at the Kings Park Athletics Stadium in Durban after running a season’s best of 48.67 in Ostrava, Czech Republic last month, his fastest time in five years.
He is a good bet for a gold medal, as Kenya’s Bett again battled in Stockholm to end fifth in 51.14.
South Africa’s other medal hopefuls in the 400m hurdles in Durban will be Lindsay Hanekom (season’s best of 49.03) and Cornel Fredericks (49.75).
@IndyCapeSport