Manyonga faces his toughest test

JOHANNESBURG: Red-hot flames are expected in the sandpit at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting tomorrow where Luvo Manyonga will face a serious challenge to his long-jump supremacy of the last year.

The South African world champion will face off against Rio Olympic gold medallist Jeff Henderson of the United States.

Add rising Cuban star Juan Miguel Echevarria and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Henry Frayne of Australia and you have a redhot field.

Henderson and Manyonga have a history thanks to their tussle at the Rio Games where the American clinched the title on his final leap.

Manyonga held the lead until the final round when Henderson beat him by one centimetre.

Last year’s world championships in London was billed as the great rematch, but Henderson battled with form in 2017 and was eliminated in the qualifying round. Manyonga went on to win the world title with a secondround leap of 8.48m.

Manyonga has been the form guy over the last year, boasting a winning streak of 12 finals since September 2016.

His perfect season came to an end at this year’s IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham where the teenage Echevarria took the spoils.

The four-member SA contingent includes Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Sunette Viljoen and Wenda Nel.

Nel made her big inter- national breakthrough at the Gold Coast Games where she raced to a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles.

While the medal will boost her confidence for the rest of the season, Nel said she had already made a mind shift before the quadrennial showpiece.

“From the start of the season I’ve had a different approach and even before the Commonwealth Games I started to believe more in myself,” Nel said.

“The attitude that I had going into the Games was already different compared to other years.”

She will need that confidence over the weekend where she will go up against some top-notch opposition.

Middle- distance ace Rynardt van Rensburg completes the SA contingent in the 800m.