3 SA athletics victories at Diamond League in Rome
Cape Town – South African athletes delivered superb all-round performances on Thursday night, with five competitors finishing among the top two in their respective events at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome.
Sprinter Wayde van Niekerk, middle-distance specialist Caster Semenya and javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen all secured victory at the fifth of 14 legs in the top-flight international campaign.
Van Niekerk, competing in his first international race of the season, won the men’s 400m race in 44.19 seconds, just 0.08 outside the season’s best he set in his home town of Bloemfontein at the ASA Open Championships last month.
He led off the final bend and drew clear to cross the line well ahead of Grenada’s Bralon Taplin who finished second in 44.43.
Semenya was perhaps even more dominant, charging to victory in 1:56.64 to equal the world lead she set in Rabat less than two weeks earlier in the women’s 800m.
Sitting back for most of the race, as she has done throughout the season, Semenya launched a late assault down the home straight to win convincingly for the third Diamond League two-lap contest this year, with Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi securing second position in 1:58.20.
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