The year got off to a bang with the introduction of the new Liquid Telecom Athletix Grand Prix Series in March , the first time an international series was held on SA soil since 2003 , featuring three meetings in Roodepoort , Pretoria and Paarl , with sell-out events at Tukkies and Paarl . The series saw the likes of World Champion Justin Gatlin come to race – and get beaten – in the seldom-run 150m event . Caster Semenya gave notice to the world that 2018 was going to be the year of records when she broke Ilse De Kock Wicksell ’ s longstanding women ’ s SA 1000m record in Pretoria . She would go on to break that record again later in the year . Next up was the Commonwealth Games in April , in Brisbane , Australia , where South Africa won 12 medals , five of which were gold , with an additional four silver and three bronze medals also coming back to SA . Amongst the golds , two went to the incredible Caster ( 1500m / 800m ), while Akani Simbine won his first international title in the men ’ s 100m , and Luvo Manyonga added to his already impressive global medal haul by winning the men ’ s long jump .
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the medals table behind Kenya , even though South Africa had the most medals overall ( 30 ), but they were two shy of Kenya in the gold medal department . Caster continued her rampage of fast times and gold medals , winning the 400m and 800m , the former in a new SA Record of 49.96 to smash Heide Seyerling ’ s 18-year-old record of 50.05 , set in Sydney in 2000 . ( However , the IAAF does not recognize this new record ).
Akani won his second major international title by taking the 100m , and the men ’ s 4x100m relay team was too good for the rest of Africa for yet another sprint gold . While Antonio Alkana defended his men ’ s 110m hurdles title , Ruswahl Samaai upset Luvo Manyonga to retain his Africa title in the men ’ s long jump , edging his compatriot by 2cm . Kyle added the men ’ s shot put title to his World Under-20 title , and Victor Hogan won gold in the men ’ s discus .
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Casterin recordsetting mood |
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Come June and it was time for the Juniors to shine at the World Under-20 Championships in Tampere , Finland . Zeney van der Walt , Sokwanana Zazini and Kyle Blignaut came away with gold medals , in the women ’ s and men ’ s 400m hurdles and shot put respectively , while Breyton Poole added a bronze in the men ’ s high jump . Zeney and Soks would finish the season in the number two and number one spots respectively on the World Junior rankings .
African Heroes
August saw our athletes head to Asaba in Nigeria for the African Championships – held under challenging conditions , to say the least . Team SA finished second on
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The gold medal winners from Africa Champs then represented Africa at the Intercontinental Cup in Ostrava , Czech Republic , with Akani claiming the bronze medal in the 100m and Ruswahl taking gold in the long jump . Caster won silver in the women ’ s 400m , setting another SA Record of 49.62 in the process ( this one is recognised by the IAAF ), then took the gold in the women ’ s 800m , and a silver medal in the mixed 4x400m relay capped an incredible year for her in SA colours .
Diamonds Retained
No surprise then that Caster claimed the women ’ s Diamond League series title in the 800m , and Luvo made it a SA double by claiming the men ’ s long jump series title . Caster was undefeated in the two-lap event , posting the four fastest times in the year , and her 1:54.25 in Paris in June also broke her own SA Record . This was her third consecutive Diamond League title in the 800m event . Luvo won six of the seven Diamond League long jump competitions , including the final , to retain his title . The only blemish on his record this season was a third place finish in Stockholm .
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2018 was a year of records for Caster Semenya , and she now holds the women ’ s SA Records for 400m , 600m , 800m , 1000m and 1500m . There can be no doubt that Caster is South Africa ’ s Athlete of the Year , given that this season alone she set the following seven SA Records : |
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Images : Roger Sedres / ImageSA |
Zeney van der Walt |
Looking Ahead , our athletes are now taking a welldeserved off-season break , with the provisional dates for the 2019 season due to kick off with the four new Summer Series meetings in March , followed by three Grand Prix meetings in April and then the SA Junior and Senior Champs later in April . The Diamond League starts in May , and the 2019 IAAF World Champs will take place in October in Doha , Qatar . |
400m : 49.62 ( Ostrava , 8 September )
800m : 1:54.25 ( Paris , 30 June )
1000m : 2:35.43 ( Pretoria , 8 March ) 2:31.01 ( Rabat , 13 July ) 2:30.70 ( Berlin , 2 September )
1500m : 4:00.71 ( Brisbane , 10 April ) 3:59.92 ( Doha , 4 May )
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