Fanie van der Merwe claims gold in Glasgow

Van der Merwe led from the start and clocked 11.65 seconds to secure the gold medal, with Du Toit in his wake in the adjacent lane.

“It was a good race, a really nice experience running with my SA mates,” said Van Der Merwe, who added the Commonwealth gold to the three medals he collected from Beijing in 2008 and the London 2012 Paralympics.

“I’m really pleased with my start and had a great transition but at the end I had a bit of a stumble but crossing that line first was an awesome experience,” said Van der Merwe.

Du Toit was full of praise for his training partner.

“To finish next to the best in the world is an honour,” said the 21-year-old Du Toit.

“I didn’t have that good a start but I am very happy with the execution of the race,” said Du Toit who ran a seasons best 11.89 for silver.

Andrea Dalle Ave was the third South African to make the final, finishing fourth behind Welshman Rhys Jones in a seasons best 12.39.

In the decathlon, Willem Coertzen was forced to withdraw during the high jump with an Achilles injury.

“You don’t mess with [the] Achilles, the risks are too high,” said Coertzen.

Orazio Cremona looked set to collect the bronze in the shot putt with 20.13m, but ended fourth when Canadian Tim Nedow threw 20.59m on his throw.

Jamaican O’Dayne Richards swapped the lead with New Zealand’s Tom Walsh until securing gold with a national record of 21.61m.

“I was working on a medal. I’m really heart broken. I trained hard for it,” said Cremona.

“My technique was down I could feel it. I feel like I had the power for a 21[m] and could see it in my eyes and heart but technically I wasn’t there.” The pressure around Simon Magakwe’s altitude sub-ten second sprint time perhaps was too heavy on Monday night in Scotland’s National Stadium.

The 29-year-old could only deliver a 10.33, 0.01 second faster than his time in the morning’s heat.

“I feel bad. I was not expecting this,” said Magakwe.

“My start was bad, then I tensed in the middle while trying to recover, but it was not enough.” Akani Simbine was fourth behind Jamaican Kemar Bailey-Cole, who recorded a seasons best of 10 seconds, the fastest semi-final time.

“I’m very happy with the start. The race was good. I had hoped to get into the final but fourth in the semi is okay,” said Simbine.

– Sapa