Caster will always remember Paris
● Caster Semenya smashed her national record as she stormed to victory in the 800m at the Diamond League meet in Paris last night.
Semenya broke the 1min 55sec barrier for the first time as she clocked a 1min 54.25sec meet record that elevates her to fourth on the all-time list.
Only Jarmila Kratochvilova of the former Czechoslovakia (1:53.28), Nadezhda Olizarenko of the former Soviet Union (1:53.43) and Kenyan Pamela Jelimo (1:54.01) have been faster.
Semenya, who will go to court to challenge the IAAF’s new rules on hyperandrogenism that would require her to take medication to limit naturally occurring high levels of testosterone, was nearly a second quicker than her previous best, the 1:55.16 she clocked at the world championships in London last year.
Commonwealth Games champion Akani Simbine clocked a season’s best 9.94sec in the 100m, but had to settle for fourth place.
American Ronnie Baker won in 9.88 to share the world lead with his compatriot Noah Lyles, ahead of Frenchman Jimmy Vicault and Su Bingtian of China, both in 9.91.
Simbine’s time was his fastest on foreign soil since he finished fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and it will lift him into the top 10 on the world rankings.
It’s only the second time this season he’s dipped under 10 seconds, but it should motivate him for the second half of the season.
Antonio Alkana ended fourth in the 110m hurdles in 13.32, slightly slower than the
Semenya broke the 1min 55sec barrier for the first time as she clocked a 1min 54.25sec meet record
13.31 he clocked running third in the qualifying round earlier.
In non-Diamond League events, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Henricho Bruintjies, complaining of ’flu earlier in the day, finished third in the men’s 100m B race in 10.15 with Thando Roto sixth in 10.23. Luxolo Adams was fourth in the men’s 200m in 20.21, well behind winner Michael Norman of the US in 19.84.
Meanwhile, world champion Luvo Manyonga once again had to play second fiddle to Cuban upstart Juan Miguel Echevarria at a long-jump meet in Bad Langensalza in Germany yesterday.
Manyonga, Ruswahl Samaai and Zarck Visser all cleared 8.40m, but had to settle for second, third and fourth as the teen floated to 8.68m on his fourth attempt to improve his own world lead by 2cm.
Manyonga twice went 8.42m while Samaai and Visser each managed 8.40m, but they weren’t enough to derail the 19-yearold phenom who first stunned Manyonga at the world indoor championships this year.