South African athletes enjoyed encouraging success at the popular Athletissima 2002 IAAF Grand Prix athletics meeting in Lausanne on Tuesday night.
World high jump champion Hestrie Cloete finished 8th ? clearing 1,94m. Okkert Brits, South Africa’s pole vault record holder, showed glimpses of his previous best when he cleared 5,70m that earned him fourth place in a world class field. It was a big booster for his chances at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester later this month.
Cloete’s performance would also have been to her satisfaction as it was only 1cm below her best of the year. She was one of seven women who cleared 1,94m in Lausanne where the high jump produced the top performance of the evening when Sweden’s Kajsa Bergqvist won the competition with a Swedish record of 2,04 metres.
After last Friday night’s scare of a muscle injury, Llewellyn Herbert, South Africa’s 2002 world leader in the 400m hurdles, ran a safety-first race and only finished fifth in a satisfactory time of 48,89sec.
He did, however, get a warning from Great Britain’s Christopher Rawlinson who won the race in 48,21sec and thus established himself as one of the favourites for the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
The SA record holder started very slowly and seemingly gained confidence as the race progressed.
He accelerated towards the end but had to settle for fifth and overall sixth at the meeting because Saudi Arabia’s Al-Somaly Hadi Soua’an won the B race in 48,79.
Herbert seemed pleased that he got through the race without injuring himself.
Alwyn Myburgh, the world student champion who had a very good SA season, struggled and finished eighth with a disappointing 49,64sec.
Hopefully he will regain his rhythm and confidence in the few weeks leading up to the Commonwealth Games. Shaun Bownes, South Africa’s star high hurdler — who had not been running for more than a week — had reason to be satisfied when he recorded a fast 13,36 seconds in finishing second in the B race. He exhibited his usual fighting spirit and established himself a medal contender in Manchester.
He was beaten by a Chinese junior, Liu Xiang, who broke the world junior record by 0,11 sec when recording the time of 13,12sec.
Colin Jackson, Great Britain’s world record holder, is the only Commonwealth runner with a faster time this year than Bownes. He clocked 13,18 seconds in the A race but he has already recorded a time of 13,15 seconds this year. – Sapa