Llewellyn Herbert, South African holder of the 400m hurdles record and medal winner at the 2000 Olympics and the 1997 World Championships, started his 2004 international campaign in fine style with a victory at an IAAF Grand Prix 11 meeting in Milan on Wednesday.
He clocked 49,47 seconds for his fastest of the year but he still failed to better the Olympic qualifying standard of 49,2 seconds.
At this stage Herbert is not yet certain of his place in the South African Olympic team. Ockert Cilliers and Alwyn Myburgh have already sealed their positions, but the third spot is at this stage a battle between Herbert and Marnus Kritzinger, the 1999 world youth champion.
The latter holds the advantage because he has already bettered the required time when he finished third at the South African Championships in Durban.
Herbert, a finalist at last year’s championships, set his previous 2004 best of 49,57 seconds in January in Germiston. In Wednesday’s race he easily defeated Russians Boris Gorban (49,6) and Rusian Maschenko (50,13)
Chris Harmse, South Africa’s hammer-throwing star, also gave an excellent account of himself by finishing second in his speciality with a distance of 77,5m, 1,56m less than the Finnish winner, world junior record-holder Olli-Pekka Karjalainen. The current Olympic champion, Szymon Ziolkowski of Poland, was fourth with a throw of 76,45m.
Despite suffering from food poisoning, South Africa’s Johan Cronje clocked a fast three minutes and 37,83 seconds over 1 500m. Ivan Heshko of Ukraine took the honours in three minutes and 35,6 seconds.
Berhane Adere of Ethiopia, who attempted to set a new world record in the 5 000m, failed by just less than eight seconds. Her winning time of 14 minutes and 36,92 seconds was still the fastest of the year in the world. — Sapa