SA double as Simbine and Sekgodiso charge to Diamond League victories

It was a memorable evening for South African athletes at the Diamond League track and field meeting in Oslo on Thursday night.

Experienced sprinter Akani Simbine and rising middle-distance star Prudence Sekgodiso both picked up their second Diamond League wins of the season, while long-distance runner Adrian Wildschutt broke his own national 5,000m record.

Simbine and Sekgodiso were spectacular in wet conditions in the Norwegian capital, raising hopes of potential medals at the Paris Olympics in August.

In the men’s 100m sprint, SA record holder Simbine won in 9.94 seconds, holding off Japanese athlete Hakim Sani Brown who clocked 9.99 in second place.

“I have a lot to work on and a lot to do, but I am happy with my performance and I hope there will be more highlights coming up as we build towards the Olympic Games,” Simbine said.

Sekgodiso, meanwhile, took the women’s 800m race in 1:58.66, with Natoya Goule-Toppin of Jamaica settling for the runner-up spot in 1:59.10.

“My work has just paid off and it is still going well towards the Olympic Games,” Sekgodiso said.

Wildschutt record

Over the 5,000m distance, Wildschutt broke his own South African record, though he settled for 13th place in an incredibly fast race in 12:56.67.

He took nearly six seconds off his national outdoor mark of 13:02.46 which was set last season, and sliced 0.09 off his all-time best of 12:56.76 which was set on a short track earlier this year.

Up front, Ethiopian athlete Hagos Gebrhiwet ran the second fastest time in history. He won the race in 12:36.73, a little more than a second outside the world record of 12:35.36 held by Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei.

In other events, Lythe Pillay finished sixth in the men’s 400m race in 45.34, and Ryan Mphahlele was 12th in the 1 500m contest in 3:33.85, just 0.35 outside the automatic qualifying standard for the Olympics.