Semenya obliterates national 1 000m record
And she came within touching distance of the world record too!
South Africa’s Caster Semenya looks on after running in the Women’s 1500m race during the IAAF Diamond League athletics meeting Athletissima in Lausanne on July 5, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Alain GROSCLAUDE
Caster Semenya built on her spectacular run of fine form on Friday night, shattering her South African record at the Diamond League meeting in Rabat.
Going out hard with only a pace setter for company, after leaving the rest of the field trailing from the gun, Semenya stormed home in 2:31.01, ripping more than four seconds off the national mark of 2:35.43 she had set in Pretoria in March.
She climbed to sixth place in the all-time rankings over the rarely run distance, crossing the line a little more than two seconds outside the 22-year-old world record of 2:28.98 held by Russian athlete Svetlana Masterkova.
Earlier at the top-flight meeting, distance runner Dom Scott-Efurd produced another solid performance, taking ninth place in the women’s 5 000m race in 15:11.65, narrowly missing her personal best of 15:10.23.
Zarck Visser delivered a poor performance in the men’s long jump.
Having recently launched a season’s best of 8.40m, Visser struggled to get going and settled for sixth position with a 7.79m leap.
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