Johannesburg - Caster Semenya is looking to have fun on her last outing on home soil at the Africa Athletics Championships in Durban this week before she sets out to win Olympic gold at the Rio Games in August.
The 25-year-old has been in stunning form this season where she has shown spectacular versatility from the one-lap sprint right through to the 1 500m.Semenya, who boasts with the world-leading time of 1:56.64 in the 800m event, will also be lining up in the 1 500m event.
‘’This is my first African Championships and for me it is more about having fun on my home ground, entertaining my people and doing what I do best,’’ Semenya saidon Tuesday.
‘’I have the home-ground advantage, the nerves are a bit low unlike when I'm overseas, so I am just here to have fun.’’
Her one-lap sprint personal best is among the seventh fastest times this year which she will use to anchor the women’s 4x400m relay team with the aim of qualifying for the Games.
‘’This is part of the build-up for the Olympics and I still have the European season to finish, and it is just about doing what you love,’’ she said.‘’The main focus at the moment is just to balance my speed with my endurance, so I will focus on the 1 500m and the 800m."I will also be racing in the 4x400m to help the girls qualify for the Olympics.’’
World 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk will be racing in the 200m event where he will face a quality field including national 100m record-holder Akani Simbine and rising star Clarence Munyai.
Van Niekerk is the only other South African, behind national record-holder Anaso Jobodwana, that has dipped below 20 seconds in the half-lap sprint with his personal best time of 19.94 seconds.
Simbine and Van Niekerk will have some serious competition from former African 400m record-holder Isaac Makwala of Botswana.
Four-time African women’s javelin champion Sunette Viljoen will be looking to continue her dominance in her specialist event.Viljoen is among the four leading throwers this year with a season’s best of 65.14, and is without an equal on the continent.
Three-time African champion LJ van Zyl will be spearheading South Africa’s charge in the 400m hurdles while defending champion Cornel Fredericks will look to finally earn his Olympic spot.Fredericks is yet to post the qualifying time of 49.40s and will be lining up with Lindsay Hanekom, who has already dipped below the Olympic standard.
The women’s 100m could be among the most hotly contested events of the championships with joint South African record holder Carina Horn going up against two of Africa’s all-time best.She will line up against African record holder Murielle Ahoure of Ivory Coast with her time of 10.78 seconds and Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare, who lost her continental mark to the Ivorian earlier this month.
One hundredth of a second separates Africa’s fastest women and this will encourage Horn to dip below 11 seconds.
The Star