Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
SA’s Sunette books her place in final with just one throw
No luck for Cronje in 1500m Don’t forget the ‘big four’ at Arthur Ashe
SOUTH AFRICA’S Sunette Viljoen produced a perfect day of qualifying in the women’s javelin, launching a 63.93 metre effort with her first attempt at the IAAF World Championship in Beijing yesterday.
Her distance was the furthest of the first round, and passed the automatic qualifying mark for tomorrow’s final. As a result, Viljoen did not have to throw again and was later dropped down to third place in the standings.
But Johan Cronje didn’t match the exploits of his compatriot in the men’s 1500m semi-final. The surprise bronze medallist in Moscow two years ago ran in the second semifinal and could not manage better than eighth position with a time of 3 minutes 36.59 seconds.
His semi-final was a much faster race, where Kenyan winner Elijah Manangoi crossed the line in 3:35.
The first semi- final saw another Kenyan, Asbel Kiprop, ease to victory in a much slower 3: 43.48. The South African, however, couldn’t keep up the pace with the faster runners and missed out on a spot in the final by one place.
In the men’s decathlon, Willem Coertzen, with a suspected injury, had to pull out after the high jump and didn’t start for the final event of the day – the 400m.
An ankle injury prevented Coertzen from finishing last year’s Commonwealth Games and African Championships. It was also the first major championship that he has withdrawn after the fourth event of the 10-event discipline.
● Dutch flier Dafne Schippers completed her transformation from heptathlete to world champion sprinter when she ran the fourth-fastest 200m of all time to win by a nose at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
The 23- year- old European champion clocked 21.63 seconds to beat Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson by three- hundredths of a second and add gold to the silver medal she won in the 100m behind ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce on Monday.
Only Americans Florence Griffith- Joyner, the world record holder, and Marion Jones, who was later banned for doping, have run faster.
“I can’t believe it,” Schippers, who only switched her focus to the sprints full-time this year, said.
“What a race! What a tournament for me! I think they’ll be going crazy in the Netherlands at the moment.”
Twice Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown took bronze (21.97) in a race which featured two of the five fastest 200 metres of all time and six of the seven fastest of 2015.
Aries Merritt’s achievement in winning bronze in the 110m hurdles was perhaps the most impressive of the night, however, given the Olympic champion will undergo a kidney transplant on Tuesday.
The world record holder finished third behind Russian Sergey Shubenkov and the delighted 30-year-old explained why his sister was not cheering him on at the Bird’s Nest.
“It almost means more to me than my Olympic gold, the state I’m in, the training I’ve done, it’s been very difficult. The struggle is real,” Merritt said.
“My sister’s going to give me one of her kidneys. That’s why she didn’t come to Beijing, she did not want to endanger the transplant.”
Jamaica’s Danielle Williams had her sister Shermaine alongside her when she enjoyed the finest moment of her career with a shock win in the women’s 100m hurdles.
It was the first time siblings had competed in a world championship final, and it was the younger sister who stormed to victory in a personal best 12.57 seconds ahead of Germany’s Cindy Roleder and Alina Talay of Belarus.
Williams did benefit from three of the American favourites succumbing to the pressure, two going out in the semi-finals and the other clipping her first hurdle, but nothing was going to deny her family their delight.
“It was so special that we were together in this final,” said Danielle, whose sister finished seventh.
“There will be a big celebration for sure, my family is shouting, celebrating – they look even happier than I am.”
Decathlon world record holder Ashton Eaton may feel he has family pride to restore after his wife Brianne TheisenEaton failed to live up to her favourites tag and settled for silver in the heptathlon.
Eaton clocked the fastest 400m of all-time in the multidiscipline event (45 seconds) to lead the competition after five events with 4703 points ahead of Canadian Damian Warner (4530) and Rico Freimuth of Germany (4406).
“No way in hell did we think I was running that fast,” Eaton said.
“I thought 46- flat, maxed out. You know me. I just go and don’t hold too much back (and) it turned out something unbelievable.”
There was disbelief for Shubenkov too, after he beat Hansle Parchment of Jamaica to the line in a Russian record for the 110m hurdles of 12.98 seconds.
“I don’t remember anything about the race. I heard the starting gun and then I opened my eyes and it was finished,” he said.
“I wondered whether it was really happening, whether I might wake up. This is the best day of my life.”
Tianna Bartoletta rolled back the years in the women’s long jump, snatching a second world title with a leap of 7.14m – a decade after she won her first under her maiden name Madison.
The American’s best jump was her last and Britain’s Shara Proctor, who had led the competition after breaking her own national record with a 7.07m jump in the third round, fouled with her final effort.
China’s Liu Hong and Lu Xiuzhi looked a little like siblings as they matched each other stride-for-stride until the last few steps of the 20km walk.
Liu led Lu over the line in a time of one hour 27 minutes and 45 seconds for the first gold of the day, to the delight of the crowd basking in the morning sunshine.
“I felt a lot of pressure. China had not won a gold medal and everybody was wait- ing for it,” Liu said.
Russian walker Alexander Yargunkin will not compete in the men’s 50km walk today after being suspended while the Russian anti-doping agency investigates media reports he tested positive for blood-boosting agent Erythropoietin.
It will be the first time no Russian walkers will take part in a world championships. – ANA, Reuters THERE is no question that the most talked about topic heading into the US Open, which starts on Monday, is Serena Williams’ Grand Slam bid.
However, a certain “big four” of men’s tennis will provide plenty to discuss too.
Top seed Novak Djokovic, for example, has been nearly as dominant as Williams this year. He won the Australian Open, was the runner- up at the French Open, then won Wimbledon, part of a 56-5 season that includes six titles and 10 consecutive appearances in tournament finals.
Given his excellence on hard courts, it’s hard to believe he has won the trophy only once at Flushing Meadows.
Five-time US Open winner Roger Federer is 34 and hasn’t won a Grand Slam championship in more than three years, yet the No 2 seed might be as much of a threat as anyone in Arthur Ashe Stadium on the second Sunday. The Swiss made it all the way to the final at Wimbledon before losing to Djokovic, then beat the Serb for the hard-court Cincinnati Masters title this month.
“Still not very happy with my form and with my game,” Djokovic said after that loss to Federer. “But I have a week to work on it.”
No 3 Andy Murray also defeated Djokovic in a hardcourt final in August, at Montreal, and has made it to two semi-finals and one final at this year’s majors. Like Djokovic and Federer, he is a past US Open champion.
Rafael Nadal is worth keeping an eye on for the simple reason that no one quite knows how well he will play. He has not been performing up to the standards that earned him 14 Grand Slam titles, including two at the US Open, and is seeded only eighth. He faces what could be a truly tough test in his opening match against 18-year-old Borna Coric. Get past that, then win three more matches, and he could face Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
Maria Sharapova is a fivetime major champion, includ- Serena Williams interview:
See PG 38 ing at the 2006 US Open, but is hardly match-ready.
She has not competed since her semi-final loss to Williams at Wimbledon in July, sidelined by an injured right leg. “There’s no athlete who’s ever 100 percent healthy,” Sharapova said.
Murray’s first-round opponent is Nick Kyrgios, who has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently.
A courtside microphone picked up Kyrgios telling his opponent, two- time major champion Stan Wawrinka, that another Australian player had slept with Wawrinka’s girlfriend. Kyrgios was fined by the ATP and is on probation for the next six months, with an additional fine threatened.
Federer showed off a new, net-rushing, half-volley return in Cincinnati, so it will be interesting to see how much he uses that at the US Open. “I’ll always mix it up and make it, I guess, uncomfortable for my opponent,” he said.
Mardy Fish, a 32-year-old American once ranked in the top 10, will be playing the final tournament of his career after dealing with anxiety disorder, which forced him to withdraw from the 2012 US Open. His first-round opponent is 102ndranked Marco Cecchinato, of Italy, who has never played a Grand Slam match.
Fans will have to sit out rain delays at Arthur Ashe Stadium for one more year, but they will get a break from the sun. The framework to support a retractable roof has been installed above the main court, providing shade for part of the upper deck. The fully operational roof is scheduled to be in place for next year. – ANA-AP