NEWS
I n t h e
Compiled by Sean Falconer
Two More PBs for Dom
American-based Olympian Dominique Scott bettered her 1500m PB on 20 May in the Adidas Boost Boston Games , clocking 4:07.20 to take 0.84 seconds off her previous best . Less than a week later she was in action again at the Diamond League meet in Eugene , Oregon on 26 May , and set a new best of 15:10.23 over 5000m .
Caster Runs Another World Best
Olympic , World and Commonwealth champion Caster Semenya continued her dominant streak on the track with a 2018 world-leading 1:55.92 win in the 800m at the Eugene Diamond League meet . Just two weeks later she posted yet another victory , clocking 1:57.25 at the Diamond League meeting in Oslo , Norway on 7 June . In other news , Caster has decided to challenge the IAAF ’ s new female classification rule , by taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport ( CAS ) in Lausanne , Switzerland . She is faced with having to take medication to lower her unusually high levels of naturally-produced testosterone , as this is deemed by the IAAF to give her an unfair advantage . The IAAF rule comes into effect on 1 November .
Luvo Leads the Way in Rome
Long-jumper Luvo Manyonga was once again the pick of the SA athletes at the Rome leg of the IAAF Diamond League on 31 May . He soared to a winning jump of 8.58 metres in Italy , winning by 5cm as he recorded the best jump of the year so far in the world , with fellow South African Ruswahl Samaai finishing third with a best jump of 8.34m . Unfortunately , Luvo ’ s long winning streak was finally ended when he finished second at the Diamond League meet in Stockholm , Sweden on 11 June , and then he won another silver at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting in the Czech Republic on 14 June , once again losing to Cuban teen sensation Juan Miguel Echevarria , who jumped a new world-leading 8.66m . Ruswahl once again finished third .
European Success for Rynhardt
After a 2017 season disrupted by injury and illness , Rynhardt van Rensburg bounced back with a personal best 1:45.15 in the men ’ s 800m at the Hengelo World Challenge meeting in the Netherlands on 5 June . His previous best was 1:45.33 , set in Rio in 2016 . He then added a third position at the Stockholm Diamond League meet , clocking 1:45.73 .
Record Finally Falls to Rikenette
On 4 June , hurdler Rikenette Steenkamp finally relegated Corien Botha ’ s 21-yearold SA Record of 12.94 seconds for the women ’ s 100m hurdles to second place in the record books . Rikenette finished second in 12.91 at the Memorial Josefa Odlozila Meeting in Prague , Czech Republic , finally capturing the record she had been chasing since 2017 ( full story on page 30 ). Less than a week later she again
dipped under 13 seconds , clocking 12.99 to finish second at the Stockholm leg of the IAAF Diamond League .
Richard Makes History in UK
Olympic triathlete Richard Murray raced to his most prestigious victory yet when he became the first South African to win an Olympic distance World Triathlon Series event at the AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds in the UK on 13 June . Richard had previously won two sprint distance events on the world stage , along with a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in London in 2014 , but came home in 1:45:52 to finally clinch the one that had eluded him thus far .
Akani Second at Golden Spike
Commonwealth champion Akani Simbine finished second in the 100m at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting in the Czech Republic on 14 June , stopping the clock on 10.13 as World Champion Justin Gatlin took the win in 10.03 . This was the exact same time that won Akani the Commonwealth title in Australia two months earlier .
Paris Success for Parasprinters
Paralympians Charl du Toit and Anruné Liebenberg were in action at the IPC Grand Prix meeting in Paris , France in late June , with Charl winning the T37 class 400m in a world-leading 51.26 seconds , very close to his PB of 51.00 , and finished second in the 200m in 23.57 . For Anruné , it was a successful comeback after two operations and a back problem as she set a PB in the women ’ s T47 400m , coming home in 56.39 .
Strong SA Team for World Cup
The South African team announced to do duty at the inaugural Athletics World Cup in London on 14-15 July features six Commonwealth Games medallists amongst the 39 athletes selected . With one athlete competing in each discipline , the 2018 domestic ranking lists were used to select the SA team , which will compete against the USA , Poland , China , Germany , France , Jamaica and Great Britain & Northern Ireland , with a points system to determine the overall winning country .
Images : Janos Schmidt / ITU , Reg Caldecott , Roger Sedres / ImageSA & Courtesy Dominique Scott & Rynhardt van Rensburg
8 ISSUE 108 JULY 2018 / www . modernathlete . co . za