Semenya, Samaai win in Rabat

Caster Semenya and Ruswahl Samaai produced world-class performances to stake serious claims for gold at the Rio Olympics with victories in the Diamond League on Sunday.

Caster Semenya and Ruswahl Samaai produced world-class performances to stake serious claims for gold at the Rio Olympics with victories in the Diamond League in Rabat on Sunday evening.

Semenya cruised around for the first 600m behind Burundi’s Francina Niyonsaba as she kept her kick for the last 100m, but she turned up the heat on the home straight to power away in a 2016 world-leading time of 1:56.64, her fastest time since 2011, when her season’s best was 1:56.35.

That shows the 25-year-old 2009 world champion is in great shape heading into Rio, and will be hard to stop at the August Olympics.

“In training, we try to do tactical races and fast sessions,” Semenya told the Diamond League website afterwards. “What you see here is the outcome of the training. Of course, it gives a strong morale boost to beat a strong field like this one. I need to keep working hard in training now and then there is more to come.”

Samaai faced stiff competition from Australian Fabrice Lapierre in the long jump competition, and pulled out an enormous 8.38m to take the lead in the fourth round. Lapierre hit back with an 8.36m, but it was not enough to overhaul Samaai, who equalled his personal best.

“This is the best competition I have ever been in. Everything was amazing – the new track is also very good,” Samaai said. “My technique worked well and my run-up is getting better. The most important thing for me is to be consistent in all my competitions because the level in this event is extremely high.”

There was more joy for South Africa as 110m hurdles national champion Antonio Alkana came third behind the world-class duo of David Oliver (13.12) and Orlando Ortego (13.13) of the USA and Spain respectively.

Alkana kept going after a good start to finish in 13.28, a new personal best that beat his previous mark of 13.32. It was just short of Lehann Fourie’s SA record of 13.24.

In one of the toughest races on the track, SA champion Wenda Nel improved her time from her last Diamond League meeting in Doha two weeks ago to finish third in 54.88.

It was just behind her 54.84 she produced in winning the SA title in Stellenbosch last month, but quicker than the 55.17 from Doha. Nel told Independent Media last week that she was experimenting with different stride-patterns, and it appeared to work for her in the opening 200m as she took the lead.

But Jamaica’s Janeive Russell surged up on her inside and galloped away to win in a personal best of 54.16, with American Cassandra Tate second in 54.69.

SA 100m record holder Carina Horn would’ve been reasonably satisfied with her outing as she beat veteran American Carmelita Jeter by coming fourth in 11.28, with Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson running a blistering 11.02 to set a new meeting record.

Dumisane Hlaselo came eighth in the 1 500m in 3:37.73, again missing the Olympic qualifying standard of 3:36.20.

ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za

@IndyCapeSport

Selected Results

Women’s 400m Hurdles

1 Janeive Russell (Jamaica) 54.16

2 Cassandra Tate (USA) 54.69

3 Wenda Nel (RSA) 54.88

Women’s 100m

1 Elaine Thompson (Jamaica) 11.02

2 Blessing Okagbare (Nigeria) 11.11

3 Kerron Stewart (Jamaica) 11.19

4 Carina Horn (RSA) 11.28

Women’s 800m

1 Caster Semenya (RSA) 1:56.64

2 Francine Niyonsaba (Burundi) 1:57.74

3 Renelle Lamote (France) 1:58.84

Men’s 110m Hurdles

1 David Oliver (USA) 13.12

2 Orlando Ortega (Spain) 13.13

3 Antonio Alkana (RSA) 13.28

Men’s 1 500m

1 Timothy Cheruiyot (Kenya) 3:33.61

2 Silas Kiplagat (Kenya) 3:33.68

3 Ryan Gregson (Australia) 3:34.43

8 Dumisane Hlaselo (RSA) 3:37.73

Men’s Long Jump

1 Ruswahl Samaai (RSA) 8.38m

2 Fabrice Lapierre (Australia) 8.36m

3 Marquise Goodwin (USA) 8.11m