Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 109, Aug 2018 | Page 8

N EW S
I n
t h e
Compiled by Sean Falconer
Boston Podium for Ollie Germany for the Berlin Open Grand Prix meeting
in the first week of July. Kevin claimed the bronze
medal in the men’s F46 shot put with an African
record 13.91m heave, while Zanele brought home
gold in the women’s F54 javelin, silver in the discus
and bronze in the shot put.
Caster Breaks Records
Again Three Golds at u20 Worlds...
Double Olympic and World Champion Caster
Semenya posted the fourth-fastest time ever by
a woman, and yet another SA Record, when she
won the 800m in 1:54.25 at the Paris Diamond
League meet on 30 June. This time took almost a full second off her previous
SA Record, set last year in London, and puts her less than a second outside the
1:53.28 World Record of Czech Jarmila Kratochvilová.
Caster then smashed her 1000m SA Record as well, at the Diamond League meet
in Rabat, Morocco on 13 July. She powered away from the field to cross the line
in 2:31.01, shattering the mark of
2:35.43 she ran in March in Pretoria.
Caster is now sixth on the all-time
world list and inching towards the
2:28.98 World and 2:29.34 African
records. And she followed that
up with another 800m win in the
Monaco Diamond League on 20
July, clocking 1:54.60 and extending
her unbeaten run in the event to 37
races, dating back to 2015.
Rikenette Shatters own
SA Record
Having set a new SA Record of 12.91 in the
100m hurdles just a few weeks earlier in
Prague, Rikenette Steenkamp produced
another breakthrough performance on 1 July
in Switzerland. She obliterated her still new
record with a 12.81 in the final of the Resisprint
International meeting in La Chaux-de-Fonds,
after clocking 12.70 in the qualifying heat, but
that mark was run with the benefit of a tailwind
and is not record-legal.
Meg in Top 10 at Mont
Blanc
The Mont Blanc Marathon in Chamonix,
France is recognised as one of the world’s
great trail races, attracting the world’s elite
trail runners, and Meg Mackenzie had
an excellent run to finish eighth woman in
5:03:10. The 2018 running took place on
1 July, and the near loop course featured
2780m of ascent as well as 1700m of
descent.
Para-medals Bagged in Berlin
Para-athletes Kerwin Noemdo and Zanele Situ enjoyed a successful trip to
8
ISSUE 109 AUGUST 2018 / www.modernathlete.co.za
The next
generation of SA
track and field
athletes built on
the country’s
success at the
2017 World U18 Championships in Kenya, by
claiming three more World Titles and a bronze
medal at the U20 Champs in Tampere, Finland,
from 10-15 July. In the men’s 400m, reigning U18
World Champ Sokwakhana Zazini added the
global U20 title to his name, winning his final in 49.42 seconds. Completing the
exact same ‘double’ in the women’s 400m, SA Junior Record Holder Zeney van
der Walt was first over the line in 55.34.
SA’s other gold went to Kyle Blignault in
the men’s shot put with a massive heave
of 22.16m for a new SA and African U20
Record, and Breyton Poole added an
U20 bronze to his U18 gold in the men’s
high jump. He actually cleared the same
height of 2.23m as three other jumpers,
but on countback of successful jumps
he was eventually placed joint third.
...And Three Golds at World Cup
Three South African athletes won gold
medals at the inaugural Athletics World
Cup in London, England, and the team
added another six medals, as South
Africa finished seventh in the team
rankings. Long jump World Champion
Luvo Manyonga claimed another gold
medal here, jumping a winning 8.51m
on his first leap. Gold also went to
Rikenette Steenkamp in the women’s
100m hurdles as she ran 12.88 for another scintillating sub-13 time, and Sunette
Viljoen took the win in the women’s javelin with her 61.69m effort.
Meanwhile, SA Champion Luxolo Adams finished second in the men’s 200m in
20.45, US-based sprinter Derrick Mokaleng also claimed a silver in the men’s
400m in 45.48, and discus thrower Victor Hogan was also a runner-up thanks t