Llewellyn Herbert and Surita Febbraio, two of South Africa’s leading athletes who will feature in the 400m hurdles at the forthcoming World Championships, recorded good victories at the annual Karelia Games in Lappeenranta, Finland, on Thursday night.
Herbert had no serious competition and won easily with a time of 49,37 seconds, while Febbraio clocked 55,57 sec. The 31-year-old South African women’s champion, one of six women in the South African team, ran another well-judged race defeating Marina Shiyan of Russia. The latter’s time was 56,31 seconds.
Sprinter Leigh Julius, who will compete in both sprints in Helsinki, impressed with a good second place in the 200m, clocking 20,65 seconds. It was his fastest 200m time of the year in Europe. The race was won by Darrell Brown of Trinidad in 20,61 seconds.
Steeplechase specialist Ruben Ramolefi ran in the 1 500m and finished 10th with a time of three minutes and 47,10 seconds. Kenya’s Churchill Kipsang won the race in three minutes and 37,99 seconds.
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, the South African 800m champion who was due to feature in the 400m, withdrew earlier in the day. — Sapa