Jobodwana upstages Bolt to make 200m semi-final

SOUTH AFRICA’S Anaso Jobodwana upstaged world recordholder Usain Bolt by clocking a faster winning time in the men’s 200 metre heats at the 15th IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China yesterday.

Jobodwana, the heat seven winner, stopped the watches at 20.22 seconds, as against Bolt’s 20.28 time as the heat three winner. The South African’s time does not, however, look too promising in terms of medal prospects as he found himself tied in eighth place on the overall performance list for the heats.

He might feel better when he sees Bolt in 13th place on the list for the 54-man field.

All that remains now for Jobodwana is to translate that morale-boosting effort into an advantage when he lines up alongside Bolt today’s semifinals.

They have been drawn in the third and last semi-final in the middle lanes.

The form book rang true with Jobodwana’s win as the records showed he was the fastest 200m sprinter in his heat.

His target in today’s race will be securing a place in the medal race tomorrow and second prize will be dipping under the sub-20 second mark in the hope of eclipsing Wayde van Niekerk’s SA record time of 19.94, set at the European Classic Permit meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland, in mid-July.

Van Niekerk is the only South African to break through the 20 second barrier.

Jobodwana’s personal best stands at 20.04 and he’ll know that time is way off the mark in the greater scheme of things when measured against Bolt’s world record of 19.19.

He also knows that Bolt is not in the form of his life, but probably has enough gas in the tank to ward off even his greatest rival, American Justin Gatlin, who won his heat in 20.19.

Jobodwana will be joined in the stellar semi-final field by fellow South African Akani Simbine who squeezed his way in after a fourth-place finish in 20.23, which listed among the qualifying three fastest losers overall.

Simbine will remember this feat at the Bird’s Nest with a degree of fondness as he managed to shave 0.04 seconds off his 20.27 personal best.

In today’s semis, Simbine has managed to avoid both Bolt and Gatlin (second semi) as he will run in the first of the three races.

But he faces the daunting task of running against a trio in his semi who have clocked sub-20 times.

They are the Jamaicans Nickel Ashmeade (19.85) and Warren Weir (19.79) as well as Churandy Martina (19.85) of the Netherlands. – ANA