LUVO’S QUANTUM LEAP
Wayde van Niekerk wins 200m to rank him No 1 in world so far this year
WAYDE van Niekerk stormed to victory in the 200m at the SA championships yesterday to warn he will be ready for a world championship double later this year.
Van Niekerk, the Olympic and world 400m champion, has persuaded the organisers to rearrange their schedule to accommodate his dream of including the 200m in London in August.
And yesterday he raced to a career best 19.90 which, just three-hundredths of a second off Anaso Jobodwana’s national record, ranks him No 1 in the world so far this year. He leapfrogged runner-up Akani Simbine, who had won their 100m duel on Friday night.
But the performance of the two-day championships at Kenneth McArthur Stadium in Potchefstroom belonged to long-jumper Luvo Manyonga.
His competition lasted barely seven seconds in total, but that was all he needed to claim his maiden senior title and climb to 11th on the all-time rankings.
By comparison, Van Niekerk’s time lifted him to 43rd on the 200m all-time list.
With just one leap Manyonga soared to 8.65m, three centimetres better than the African record he had set in Pretoria last month.
Only 10 men in history have been further than Manyonga, who had to withdraw after that sole effort because of a groin strain.
Fellow Olympian and defending champion Ruswahl Samaai unleashed an 8.49m personal best on his sixth and final attempt — making him the country’s third best, just 1cm short of Khotso Mokoena’s 8.50m.
That would have been good enough for gold against most rivals; the duo will face off again at the Shanghai Diamond League meet on May 13.
SA athletics is on a high right now, and it seems the success of the jumpers, sprinters, Caster Semenya and javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen, all medallists at the Rio Games, is infecting others.
Veteran shot-putter Orazio Cremona has found renewed vigour and confidence, and at the age of 27 he threw a 21.12m personal best which makes him SA’s second-best in this discipline after Janus Robberts.
Five of his six attempts were over 20m, a consistency he had previously failed to achieve.
“I’ve found a love again for shot put,” said Cremona, admitting he nearly quit after failing to qualify for last year’s Olympics.
“I asked myself what I wanted to do. My heart is to go to the 2020 Olympics.”
Semenya defended her 400m and 800m crowns 90 minutes apart, facing some competition from fellow Olympian Justine Palframan in the one-lap sprint and then seeing off a brave challenge by Gena Lofstrand.
But she burned them off on the home straight on both occasions, even with her easy times of 51.60sec and 2min 01.03sec.
“The 800 race was quite interesting. The girls tried to push so I’m quite impressed. I’m quite happy with how I ran,” said Semenya, insisting she would focus on the 800m for the world championships.
Part of her focus was helping Lofstrand lower her best by nearly a second to 2:03.32.
“In the 800m, if you hear one of your fellow athletes wants to improve on their time, you have to stick with them as long as you can,” said Semenya.
In other action, Alyssa Conley claimed her second consecutive 100m-200m double as she dominated the longer sprint in 22.98.
Rikenette Steenkamp won the women’s 100m hurdles in a 13.02 best, but Antonio Alkana was upstaged by Tiaan Smit in the men’s 110m hurdles.
Manyonga, who lost almost four years to the sport because of tik, was pleased with gold