Bruintjies shoots up the SA 100m rankings

JOHANNESBURG: Posting a season’s best time of 10.06 seconds at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Turku, Finland, former South African 100m record-holder Henricho Bruintjies yesterday signalled that he may be regaining his form from two years ago.

Bruintjies equalled his second fastest time ever when he bagged the silver medal, with compatriot Emile Erasmus following behind him in 10.13secs.

The SA duo were beaten to the line by Turkish sprinter Ramil Guliyev, who crossed in a time of 10.02s.

It was Bruintjies’ fastest time since he set a SA record of 9.97 at La Chaux-deFonds in Switzerland in July 2015.

Bruintjies shot up the SA 100m rankings with the fourth fastest time this season, relegating Erasmus to fifth with his personal best of 10.08.

Antonio Alkana had to be content with the bronze medal in the 110m hurdles, a week after he set a new SA record at the Josef Odlozil Memorial in Prague when he posted a time of 13.11.

During the heats Alkana posted a fast 13.38, before lowering that time to 13.35 in the final for the third place with France’s Garfield Darien winning in 13.22.

Olympic javelin silver medallist Sunette Viljoen seemed to be slightly off the pace as she clinched a bronze medal with a best heave of 61.54m.

Le Roux Hamman finished third in his 400m hurdles final in a somewhat pedestrian time of 50.38, with British athlete Jack Green winning in 49.78.

Beijing Olympic long jump silver medallist Khotso Mokoena missed out on a podium place in a low-key competition, where none of the competitors leapt over eight metres.

Mokoena finished fourth with a best attempt of 7.66m.