Cape Town - It was a triple gold rush for Team South Africa at the African Championships in Durban on the late session on Thursday, with victories in the long jump, discus and decathlon.
And a strong Durban wind of +2.9m/s denied Ruswahl Samaai a new personal best in the long jump, but it couldn’t keep the gold medal away from the Paarl-born athlete as he pulled off an excellent jump of 8.40m at the Kings Park Athletics Stadium.
Samaai told Independent Media before the championships that he was working hard on his technique, particularly in terms of managing his tremendous speed on the run-up, to get the most out of his jumping ability.
He said he doesn’t actually wants to slow down leading up to the board, but wants to maximise his pace and stay longer in the air, and the preparation paid off as Samaai surpassed his personal best of 8.38m. But, of course, the wind reading was beyond the allowed limit of 2.0m/s, so it won’t count as a new PB.
There was further good news in the long jump pit as Luvo Manyonga returned to some form after bombing out of the SA championships in April with an ankle injury. The former world junior champion claimed the silver medal on Thursday with a leap of 8.23m, with Botswana’s Ruri Rammkolodi third in 7.90m.
The dominance in the field events continued in the discus, where there was another South African one-two as national champion Victor Hogan added the continental title with a throw of 61.68m, while Russell Tucker took silver in 61.44m. Dewald van Heerden just missed out on the bronze by 72cm with 58.44, with Nigeria’s Stephen Mozia (59.16m) adding another medal to his bronze in the shot put on Wednesday.
There was a major upset in the men’s decathlon, where the experienced Willem Coertzen was well on course to cruise to the gold medal in the 10-discipline event. Coertzen had either won or finished in the top three of most of the disciplines, but an ankle injury saw him miss the final 1 500m late on Thursday.
That gave Coertzen’s SA teammate Fredriech Pretorius the opening he needed, and the latter grabbed the chance to finish second in the 1 500m, which gave him enough points to win the overall gold medal. Pretorius ended on 7 780 points, 271 ahead of Ghana’s Atsu Nyamadi, with Coertzen still holding on for the bronze.
The other track final on Thursday was the women’s 5 000m, where the Kenyans took charge to win the gold and silver medals. Sheila Chepkirui was victorious in 15:05.45, with teammate Margaret Chelimo second in 15:07.56 and Ethiopian Dera Yami taking the bronze (15:15.26).
South Africa will bid for a host of medals on Friday as well, with Caster Semenya in the 1 500m final and LJ van Zyl and Cornel Fredericks in the 400m hurdles.
@IndyCapeSport