Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, one of the main medal contenders in the South African team at the forthcoming World Championships, was the only star performer among the nine South Africans at the GE Money Finnish IAAF Grand Prix in Helsinki on Monday night.
He was a man on a mission to run the world’s fastest time of the year and he did just that, although he failed to go below one minute and 44 seconds. He won the race in one minute and 44,08 seconds, his fastest time since September 2003.
The two pacemakers did a good job, although the opening 400m, which Mulaudzi covered in about 49,7 seconds, was perhaps just too fast to maintain his strong-running tempo, without real opposition, right to the finish.
However, he must have been pleased that he regained the world lead from one of his main rivals, Wilfred Bungei (1:44,11) of Kenya.
Khadevis Robinson (United States) finished second in one minute and 44,9 seconds, with Pawel Czapiewsky of Poland clocking 1:45,39 in third place.
The 24-year-old Mulaudzi did enough to prove that he will be one of the two main contenders for the global title in Helsinki on August 14.
The title for second-best South Africans went to Chris Harmse (77,18m) and Ter de Villiers (49,35 seconds) in the hammer throw and 400m hurdles respectively.
Harmse, the South African record holder who had opted to continue training at home rather than competing in Europe, had his first meeting since April and looked a bit rusty, although he would have been content with an opening throw of 77,18m and the third place.
He recorded his best effort in the sixth round, although he also had two throws beyond 74m. Finland’s Olli-Pekka Karjolainen won the event with 78,9m.
De Villiers, who turned 23 a few days ago, ran a good race to finish third behind Bayano Komani of Panama and Hadi Soua’an Al-Somaily of Saudi Arabia. The times were not particularly fast, with the first two clocking 48,89 and 49,02 seconds.
Llewellyn Herbert, South African record holder and world silver medal winner in 1997, took fourth place in 49,84 seconds. De Villiers and Herbert will compete in the world championships with LJ van Zyl making up the threesome. Van Zyl will run in the Stockholm Grand Prix in Stockholm on Tuesday.
Surita Febbraio, probably South Africa’s main female hope for a good performance at the World Championships, had a most disappointing rehearsal for the global event in two weeks’ time.
She had a terrible start and never really managed to recover and catch up with the leaders. In the end, she had to settle for sixth place and a time of 56,34 seconds, more than two seconds behind winner Sandra Glover of the US, who won in 54,27 seconds.
Godfrey Mokoena, one of the youngest members in the Protea team who will compete in the long and triple jump at the championships, also did not have a good evening although he finished sixth with a good 7,97m in the long jump. It was his only scoring jump of the evening, which must have been a cause for serious concern.
Dwight Phillips (US), the Olympic champion, also had only one legal jump but he still did enough to win with an impressive 8,44m.
Sprinter Geraldine Pillay once again could not match her South African form of three months ago and crossed the 100m finish in fifth spot with a time of 11,69 seconds. Veronica Campbell, of Jamaica, took the honours with an easy 11,12-second victory.
Of the other South African athletes in action, Ockert Cilliers and Jan van der Merwe, who will compete in the 4x400m relay at the World Championships, occupied fifth and sixth places in the ordinary 400m with times of 47,01 and 47,26 seconds respectively.
Janus Robberts (ninth) once again failed to come to the party in the shot put and after managing only 19,18m did not qualify for the final three throws. — Sapa