Semenya smashes Games record, on track for double
gold coast — Caster Semenya smashed the Commonwealth Games record to win the 1,500 meters in just over four minutes and set herself up for a middle-distance double on the Gold Coast.
The two-time Olympic 800-metre champion crossed in 4:00.71, taking more than four seconds off the mark set by Hellen Obiri in Glasgow four years ago and posting a South African record in the process. There was a 12-minute delay at the start with the athletes at the line, trying to stay warm in a light drizzle, because of a technical fault.
Unlike the semifinals, Semenya didn’t go straight to the front. Instead, she settled in fifth spot through the first half of the race and moved up into third as she entered the last lap.
She started her surge with 250 to go and rounded the leaders with 200 remaining, extending her lead in the home stretch and then flexing her biceps in a bodybuilding pose after crossing the line.
Beatrice Chepkoech took silver for Kenya and Melissa Courtney collected bronze for Wales.
Isaac Makwala was an almost as convincing winner in the men’s 400. He eased to finish 44.35 seconds and did a few press ups beyond the line — just like he did after his commanding semifinal win.
Makwala grabbed a Botswana flag and ran around the track with teammate Baboloki Thebe, who took silver in 45.09, to celebrate Botswana’s 1-2 finish. Javon Francis of Jamaica got bronze in 45.11, edging out Muhammed Anas Yahiya who placed fourth in an Indian national record of 45.31.
It was a special win for Makwala, who reached the 200 final at last year’s world championships days after being refused entry to the stadium for the 400 final because of quarantine restrictions amid a viral outbreak. The aptly named Lindon Victor won the decathlon for Grenada after defending champion Damian Warner failed to clear a height in the pole vault.
Warner, the Olympic bronze and former world silver medalist, missed all three attempts at 4.50 meters and slumped from first place to sixth, well short of his personal best of 4.90. After seven events, he was leading with 6,297 points. The 28-year-old Canadian dropped from first to sixth and didn’t compete in the javelin or the 1,500 meters on a wet night at the Carrara Stadium. His officials result: DNF.
Victor won the gold 8,303 points and Warner’s Canadian teammate Pierce Lepage took silver at 8,171. Australia’s Cedric Dubler collected bronze in 7,983.
“It’s not the way I wanted to win, with Damian having three fouls, but I prayed for the gold medal,” Victor said. “It’s 10 events, not nine. It’s the nature of the decathlon.”
Jamaica went 1-2 in the 110-metre hurdles and in the women’s triple jump.
In the first of the night finals, Ronald Levy won the hurdles in 13.19, edging fellow Jamaican Hansle Parchment by 0.03 in a damp track and Australia’s Nicholas Hough took bronze in a careerbest 13.38.
The triple jump was also contested between light rain showers, and Kimberly Williams took gold with a winning jump of 14.64 meters, 12 centimeters clear of Shanieka Ricketts and Thea Lafond of Dominica won bronze at 13.92.
New Zealander Julia Ratcliffe won the women’s hammer throw with a best mark of 69.94 meters, with Australians Alexandra Hulley and Lara Nielsen finishing second and third.