Hestrie Cloete, South Africa’s world champion high jumper, began her vital European campaign on a positive note when she cleared 1,98m and registered her best height of the year on Tuesday.
But she had to be satisfied with second place behind Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic, who cleared the same height. They were competing at the IAAF Super Grand Prix that produced world records in the women’s pole vault and the men’s 10 000 metres.
Cloete, normally a slow starter, competed in this warm-up meeting prior to Friday night’s first Golden League meeting of 2004 in Bergen, Norway.
A year ago she started her European season in the Golden League meeting and could do no better than 1,92m and a 10th place.
Although she is not yet in top shape, she will be very difficult to beat.
Ockert Cilliers also had his first opportunity to brush shoulders with the top-bracket 400m hurdlers and finished fifth behind world champion Felix Sanchez (48,44 seconds), Joey Woody (48,77) and Danny McFarlane (49,15), with Keita Naman of France clocking the same time as the Potchefstroom runner.
Both were credited with 49,16 seconds.
”I am satisfied with his first performance at this level and running in the sixth lane. He knows now what to expect in Bergen on Friday,” his coach, Ria van den Berg, said after the race.
Marnus Kritzinger, one of South Africa’s four Olympic qualifiers in the 400m hurdles from Potchefstroom University, ran in the B race and scored a comfortable victory in 50,15 seconds. In both races the athletes had to contend with a strong headwind in the final straight.
Shaun Bownes, the fourth South African athlete in action, finished eighth in the 110m hurdles in 13,93 seconds after qualifying for the final with a time of 13,87 seconds.
Stacy Dragila (United States) added 1cm to the world pole-vault record of 4,82m while Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele set his second world record in less than two weeks when he ran another sensational race to lower the global mark in the 10 000m by 2,43 seconds to 26 minutes and 20,32 seconds.
On both occasions he eclipsed the records held by his compatriot, Haile Gebrselassie. — Sapa