Strong field set to fine-tune their preparations

PROVIDING athletes one of the last opportunities to gauge where they are ahead of the national championships, the NWU International Athletics meeting in Sasolburg today has attracted a strong field which includes the women’s 800m Olympic gold medallist.

The women’s 300m should be the main event when Caster Semenya, 2011 world 400m champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana and South Africa’s top 400m hurdler Wenda Nel take each other on over the odd distance.

The men’s 400m hurdles will see former world bronze medallist LJ van Zyl take on fellow Olympian Lindsay Hanekom.

It will be Hanekom’s first race this season as he looks to set down a good marker ahead of next month’s South African Championships in Potchefstroom.

The 400m hurdles is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in years with a new crop looking to break Van Zyl and Cornel Fredericks’ stranglehold.

Fredericks and Rio Olympian Le Roux Hamman have set the early pace with the two training partners boasting the second and third fastest times respectively in the world so far, this season.

Van Zyl and Hanekom will go up against Qatar’s Abderrahmane Samba, who clocked the world’s leading time this year of 49.24 seconds in Pretoria earlier this month.

The meeting will also see the return of Andre Olivier, who opted out of last year’s Olympic Games due to a niggling injury.

The 800m specialist will line up in the 1 500m where he will go up against Folavio Sehole, Dumisani Hlaselo and Elroy Gelant.

A quality men’s 400m field will be spearheaded by Botswana’s Isaac Makwala and 800m London Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos.

Ranti Dikgale and Ashley Hlungwane, who both dipped below 46 seconds earlier this season will lead South Africa’s charge along with Jon Seeliger and Thapelo Phora.

Reigning South African women’s 100m and 200m champion Alyssa Conley will be the main attraction in the half-lap sprint, boasting the sixth fastest time in the world this season with the 23.05 seconds she clocked at the beginning of the month.

Former South African 100m record-holder Henricho Bruintjies will be looking to make some fine adjustments going into next month’s national championships.

Bruintjies, will continue his duel with Le Roux van Tonder. The pair clocked an identical time of 10.30 seconds at an Athletics Gauteng North league meeting in Pretoria.

“I am in amazing shape, I feel good and I am 100 percent with no niggles and I am ready to race,” Bruintjies said following the Germiston Speed Series last week.

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