SA athletes make shaky start at World Championships

It was a shaky start for the South African team, who wobbled their way through the opening day of the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, US, in the early hours of Saturday morning (SA time).

The first athletes in the squad who were scheduled to run — the national 4x100m relay squad — did not even compete after some members of the team arrived too late to prepare sufficiently due to visa delays.

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The squad’s campaign ultimately got underway in the late session, but there wasn’t much to shout about.

Wayne Snyman produced a solid performance in the men’s 20km walk, taking 12th position in 1:21:23.

Snyman is set to compete again in the 35km race next week.

Meanwhile, sprinter Akani Simbine snatched a spot in the men’s 100m semifinals, finishing fourth in 10.07 seconds in his heat.

Gift Leotlela (10.19) and Clarence Munyai (10.47) were both eliminated in the heats after arriving shortly before the event.

Simbine will line up in the penultimate round of the short dash in the early hours of Sunday morning (SA time).

In other events on day one, Ruswahl Samaai (7.86m) and Cheswill Johnson (7.80m) were eliminated in the qualifying round of the men’s long jump.

Ischke Senekal produced a best attempt of 15.40m in the women’s shot put, settling for 29th position, and she too missed out on a place in the final.

Meanwhile, US track star Allyson Felix won her 19th World Champs medal before calling it quits.

Felix’s bronze medal Friday in the mixed 4x400m was her 19th in a career that started almost two decades ago and also included 11 Olympic medals.

“It was very special to be able to run in front of a home crowd for my last race,” Felix told AFP.

“It was so cool. My daughter was in the stands. It was a night I will cherish.”