Caster Semenya served as a pacemaker to the rest of the quality 800m field, crossing the line in a time of one minute, 55.27 seconds. Demonstrating some fine front-running South African track queen Caster Semenya bagged her third consecutive Diamond Trophy in Zurich on Thursday night.
She went through the bell in 56.06 seconds, with a sizeable gap on the chasing pack which were left trailing in her wake. World bronze medallist Ajee Wilson of the United States followed in a distant second place with a time of 1:57.86, with Jamaican Natoya Goule bagging bronze in 1:58.49.
Semenya follows in the footsteps of Kenyan Eunice Jepkoech Sum, who won three Diamond Trophies on the trot in 2013, 2014 and 2015 in the 800m. Semenya will next be lining up at her home away from home in Berlin on Sunday which she considers as the birthplace of her athletics career. She will race the 1 000m at the ISTAF Berlin meeting where she could take another stab at the world best over the two-and-a-half lap race.
South African women’s 100m record-holder Carina Horn finished last in the sprint final clocking 11.54 seconds yesterday. Pieter Conradie could be considered one of the luckiest athletes with the 23-year-old athlete getting a lane in the 400m final for a second consecutive year.
The one-lap sprinter has managed to get himself into the final for a shot at $50 000 despite being ranked 21st on the Diamond standings. Eight South Africans in total were in action in the Zurich last night.
Source: IOL News
