Hamman on fire, but Fredericks still chasing Rio
HURDLER Le Roux Hamman’s ever-improving season stayed on track with victory at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland on Wednesday.
The Pretoria-based athlete won the one-lap hurdles event in Turku in 49.44sec. Hamman had achieved the qualifying criteria for the Rio Olympics in Pretoria at the beginning of this month.
Runner-up in Finland was the host nation’s Oskari Moro in a season’s best of 49.50, with Estonia’s Rasmus Magi third in 49.59.
Hamman’s personal best stands at 49.24 and his run of form means he looks set to join LJ van Zyl and Lindsay Hanekom in a South African 400m hurdles trio in Rio.
“Yes, I ran nicely again tonight,” Hamman, 24, told Road to Rio 2016. “I actually started a bit slowly but at the end I came through nice and strongly and caught the guys on the line.
“It was a really nice meeting; one of the best I’ve been to with a lot of people racing and watching.”
At the same meeting, South African sprinters Lebakeng Sesele and Roscoe Engel ran times of 10.37 to place fourth and fifth in the 100m dash. Both had run faster in the earlier heats.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles champion Cornel Fredericks continues to chase the elusive 49.40 qualifying time.
He missed the mark again on Tuesday night as he ended third in a meeting in Sollentuna, Sweden, with a time of 49.94.
Philippines athlete Eric Cray won in 49.67 from Dominican Republic’s Juander Santos.
At the same meeting, Jerry Motsau also missed the 1,500m qualifying mark as he ended ninth in 3min 42.15sec.
Fredericks is due to sit down with his coach to plot the way forward from here as the qualifying deadline of July 11 draws closer. Road to Rio