Cape Town - That dashing smile was wide across Caster Semenya’s face as she sat down to speak to the media at the side of the Coetzenburg track on Saturday.
She had just made history – something she wasn’t aware of – by doing the “triple” in the middle-distances at the South African National Athletics Championships in Stellenbosch.
And Semenya didn’t just win the 400m, 800m and 1 500m races, she ran world-leading times in two out of the three and a personal best in the 400m, with Olympic-qualifying times in the two shorter distances.
It was a remarkable effort by the tall 25-year-old considering it is still nearly four months before the athletics competition gets under way at the Rio Olympics on August 16.
Semenya spoke about how she was “overwhelmed” by her triple success and that it was “just crazy” for her to run 50 seconds in the 400m, but she ruled out doing all three events in Brazil as it may affect her chances of winning gold in her specialist 800m.
She came home with a quick 1:58.45, her fastest this year, but well off her South African record of 1:55.45 that was set in her stunning world championship triumph in Berlin in 2009.
Semenya ran a 1:57.23 to win a silver at the 2012 London Olympics, but she may have to go quicker to go one step further and win gold in Rio.
“We do check the previous championships, and 1:56 and 1:55 is more of a winning time. That is when we are really running, not dodging each other. For me in the Olympics, the main thing is just to run my own race. I’m not going to go more tactical, just do my best,” Semenya said.
But the North West athlete suggested that she may contest the 400 and 1 500 going forward after the Olympics, with the SA records in both events under threat. Heide Seyerling’s 400m mark of 50.05 was run at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, while in 1984, Zola Budd produced a 4:01.81 in the 1 500m.
After running 50.74 and 4:10.91 on the same day at the weekend, Semenya – whose 1 500m personal best of 4:08.01 was in 2009 – can get there. “We will still look back and check the races that we will do, maybe in Europe, 1 500 and 400, just to boost the European season. I’m not just going to run 800 only, as we have to plan for the future. I think I can go sub-50 in the 400!”
Semenya said that her next outing will be the Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar on May 6, and that she still had to decide whether she will compete in the two Diamond Leagues that follows in Rabat, Morocco on May 22 and Rome on June 2.
Meanwhile, men’s 400m world champion Wayde van Niekerk, who cruised to the SA title in 44.98 on Saturday, said he wasn’t feeling any different ahead of the Olympics compared to last year’s world championships build-up, which resulted in a splendid time of 43.48 and a gold medal in Beijing.
Van Niekerk was battling with a back issue in Stellenbosch, which saw him hold back a bit in the first half of Saturday’s race.
“Pressure is pressure – there are always nerves and challenges, so this is about staying focused for myself personally. I did exactly the same thing last year, and I love saying that the Wayde that got me there last year is the Wayde that is going to take me through this year,” he said.
But before joining Usain Bolt’s training group in Jamaica in June, Van Niekerk said he will participate in the SA Student Championships in Polokwane from April 28-30 and then study further towards his marketing degree at the University of the Free State.
He will also run the 200m at the African Championships in Durban at the end of June.
@IndyCapeSport
Independent Media