Team SA looking good in Beijing

In an awesome start to the men’s 400m campaign 15 or the 42 athletes competing in the heats recorded something between a season's best and a new area record. Six athletes clocked a season's best time, four a new personal best, four more set new national records and Yusef Masrahi set a new Asian record of 43.91 in the second heat. Put in perspective this time was the fastest time ever run in a World Championships that was not in the final.

There can be no question that the conditions and track are helping athletes put up swift times. Wayde van Neikerk went into the 400m flat with the third fastest time in the world and despite his ninth lane draw, looked calm and controlled as he won the final heat in 44.42 to book his place in the three semi-finals. Barend Koekemoer went out fast, but his pace was unsustainable leaving him to drop back to eighth in his heat in 46.52 seconds.  
 
Wenda Nel ran a 54.45 in the third and fastest heat of the day to be runner-up to American Cassandra Tate (55.27) in the women’s 400m hurdles. This sees her in a preferred middle lane draw for the first heat of Monday night's semi-final. The last two days saw the unfoiling of the 100m sprint which was ridiculously being billed as Good versus Evil relating to the head to head between defending champion, Usain Bolt, and Justin Gatlin, who, although the fastest man of 2015, has received unfavourable media coverage as a result of his comeback from two previous doping offences. 
 
South Africa had a trio of sprinters hoping to continue their progression which had both Henrico Bruintjies and Akani Simbine record a new SA record of 9.96 this season. Anaso Jobodwana was disqualified from the heats of the 100m for a blatant false start, but this may work to his benefit allowing him to focus on his better 200m event. Jobodswana made the final in Moscow in 2013 and will be hoping to get further up the fied this time. 
 
Having made it through the first heats, the other two South Africans failed to make the leap to the final, but this was hardly surprising given that it required athletes to break 10.00 to secure a place in the final. It was one of the toughest qualifiers in history. In the end nine runners lined up for the final as three tied on 9.99 seconds. Given the number of rounds, the SA athletes gave a good account of themselves against fiercely competitive and more experienced athletes.  
 
In the semi-final Bolt staggered 15-20metres out of the blocks, lost substantial rhythm and speed, but was able to regain posture and control to secure his win and final place. Bolt was back to his characteristic joker for the final and pulled into the pole position to secure his third gold 100 metre medal in 9.79 with Gatlin second in 9.80 and both Tayvron Bomwell and Andre Grasse stopping the clock on 9.92. This was a PB for Grasse and the first time in history two bronze medals had been awarded for the 100m in the World Championships.
 
Perhaps the greatest SA achievement went to Lebogang Shange who walked his way to a new SA record on Sunday morning in the 20km event, where he finished in 11th place in 1:21:43. It took a personal best by Miguel Lopez to take the gold in 1:19:14, but Shange’s performance marks another new horizon for SA walking. LJ van Zyl, who is in his 6th World Championships, made his way into the semi-finals, but once again the standard of performance this year is such that even breaking 49 seconds for the 400m hurdles was insufficient to secure a semi-final place. 

Van Zyl’s 48.89 placed him 15th overall with 16 of the 24 athletes breaking 49 seconds and the fastest losers using 48.45 or better. Orazio Cremona (18.63m) and Jaco Engelbrecht (19.04m) failed to get past the qualification groups in the men's shot-putt. The duo were well off their bests where 19.94 was required to make the final. However, perhaps the more predictable, and consistently disappointing disciple of the past five championships has been the marathon team, and this continued again on the opening morning when only one of South Africa’s three marathoners finished the course. 
 
The marathon certainly never lacked excitement as 19-year-old Eritrean Ghirmay Gebrselassie  took control of the race for the final 7km, holding of a challenge from Ethiopian Yemane Tesgay to become the youngest ever World Marathon Champion in 2:12:28.
Munyane Mutai from Uganda was third in 2:13:30 only 22 seconds adrift of Tesgay. Desmond Mokgobu was South Africa’s sole finisher in 41st place in 2:34:10, while Bennedict Moeng pulled out shortly after halfway and Sibusiso Nzima pulled out somewhere between 35 and 40km. 
 
In fairness the event was held in hot and humid conditions and saw 24 runners in the field pull out, so the two South Africans were amongst substantial and talented company. However, Moeng and Nzima should have had more incentive than most to go through to the line. ASA in their wisdom had entered four marathoners for the championships, and this is perfectly acceptable in the IAAF event rules, however only three can line up at the start. Entering four is a great protection against injury particularly if you are running with team tactics and a strategy to get one of your runners onto the podium. 

The problem it seems is that Jani Lukas had gone to Beijing unaware that one of the runners would be withdrawn as a reserve. In fact, it would seem this was also a surprise to the team management and marathon coach, James Moloi. Rather than a registered coach Moloi as with the marathon manager for 2011 Championships in Daegu, is in fact the chair of ASA Road Commission. It must have felt like a double whammy to Lukas to not only be withdrawn from his dream opportunity of being in the World Championships, but also to find that two of his teammates pulled out from the event based on conditions. 
 
There must be a time coming that will see the investment reduced in the marathon unless some guarantees are given, or accountabilities made when the runners fail to finish the race. After having won the bronze medal team prize in 2003 Paris, not one runner finished in Helsinki 2005 and since then the pressure to finish seems to have gone. 
 
Khotso Mokoena failed to qualify for the long jump final earlier today, but still has a chance of advancing in the triple jump in Beijing.

Jamaican sprinter, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, has won an unprecedented third IAAF World Championship 100 metres title. Fraser-Pryce did so in Beijing earlier today.

There is also good news for South African athlete Wenda Nel. She is through to the final of the 400-metres hurdles.

(File Photo)

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