HE’S WALKING THE TALK
It’s job done for speeding Jobodwana
THE 200m men’s race was billed as one of the highlights. And at the inaugural Liquid Telecom Athletix Grand Prix Meeting at Ruimsig on Thursday night, it duly delivered as South Africa’s former World Championship bronze medallist, Anaso Jobodwana, not only won the battle of words with his young rival, Clarence Munyai, but was also first over the line.
King William’s Town-born Jobodwana, running in lane four, had to chase hard to catch Munyai, who had not only blasted out off the blocks like a man possessed, but also ran a bend that on most occasions would have won him the race.
In the final 20m, Munyai tensed up and allowed Jobodwana to snatch victory, crossing the line in 20.13 seconds to equal his sixth best-ever time.
In typical Jobodwana fashion, once he had drawn level with Munyai, the lanky sprinter kept glancing across to his rival with a smile, knowing the race was his.
“Where did Anaso come from?” Munyai asked post-race while lying down in the mixed zone after what was clearly a hard run. “How did he come past me?”
Jobodwana too was breathing hard. “I’m glad to be back where I was three years ago. My form is coming back and I’m feeling good.
“I’m really happy with my run today. I didn’t want to race here because it has been a long time since I have run a 200m and the guys like Clarence and Isaac [Makwala] are dangerous.”
Jobodwana wasn’t the only athlete to get the crowd roaring.
Earlier on, Welshman Dai Greene won the 400m hurdles in 49.38sec, his best time since 2013.
Greene won the world title in 2011 and has since had three operations.
Earlier in the week he clocked 49.49sec in Potchefstroom to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.
“Qualifying for the Commonwealth Games after years of injury was big for me. But to improve on that time from Tuesday after sitting in traffic for 40 minutes before the race really has me excited.”
Greene defeated long-time rival L J van Zyl who crossed the line in 49.64sec. This is the first time the 32-year-old multiple SA champion and SA record-holder has dipped under 50sec this season.
The Ugandan duo of Winnie Nanyondo and Halimah Nakaayi did not disappoint as they went one-two in the 800m women.
It was Nakaayi though who took the win over her more fancied rival. After going through the bell in 59sec, Nakaayi stayed in front on the final lap to win in 2:01.44, with Nanyondo coming home in 2:02.84 and Gena Lofstrand (2:03.56) rounding out the top three.
Botswana’s Amantle Montsho, the 2011 world champion in the 400m, destroyed the opposition with her 50.66sec in the one lap event. Justine Palframan had to settle for third behind Botswana’s Christine Botlogetswe (52.07) with the fifth best performance of her career, running 52.19sec.
Seventeen-year-old George Manangoi showed just why he is the World Youth 1500m champion from 2017 when he came flying through in the final 30m of the 1 500m to win in 3:40.62. Manangoi is the younger brother of the World 1 500m champion, Elijah Manangoi. —DDC