Olympic champion Caster Semenya will be eager to extend her lead in the early stages of the IAAF Diamond League season when she competes in the third leg of the series in Eugene, Oregon this weekend.
After winning the women’s 800m campaign last year, Semenya took the lead in the 2017 Diamond League race when she stormed to victory in 1:56.61 in the opening leg in Doha earlier this month, climbing to the top of the world rankings in her specialist discipline.
Though seven other women in the line-up have dipped under 1:58.00 in their careers, only Olympic silver and bronze medallists Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Kenyan Margaret Wambui have gone under 1:57:00.
They are expected to put up the strongest fight against the dominant SA record holder at the annual Prefontaine Classic.
Semenya will turn out on day two of the meeting, with the women’s two-lap race scheduled to start at 11.16pm (SA time) on Saturday night.