Tshepo handed dramatic late lifeline as Zeney books semifinal spot

Tshepo Tshite and Zeney van der Walt provided the highlights on an otherwise gloomy day for the South African team at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Monday. By Karien Jonckheere

In the men’s 1500m semifinals, Tshepo was left devastated after missing out on a spot in Wednesday’s final by an agonising six thousandths of a second, edged on the line by Britain’s Neil Gourley. But his luck soon turned when Olympic champion Cole Hocker was disqualified for jostling in the closing metres, handing Tshite the final automatic qualifying spot after he finished sixth in 3:36.93. 

Meanwhile, Zeney booked her place in Wednesday’s semifinals of the 400m hurdles after finishing fourth in her heat in 55.32 seconds. While not particularly pleased with her time, the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist was happy to have got the job done after running twice already in the 4x400m mixed relay heats and final just two days ago.

The rest of South Africa’s hurdlers were not as successful. Marioné Fourie hit a hurdle and lost her rhythm in her 100m hurdles semifinal, running into the next barrier and eventually being disqualified from the race. Having missed 10 weeks of training with a broken shoulder, she was simply pleased to have reached the semifinals, however.

“I didn’t actually expect to go to the semis. I was just aiming to come to world champs and run a time… I think overall it wasn’t too bad, but things happen and I have to learn from it,” she said afterwards.

Sabelo Dhlamini was fifth in his 400m hurdles heat in 49.50 seconds, so missing out on a semifinal spot by just one place, but was nevertheless inspired by his first World Championships experience at the age of 30.

“Running in such a stadium that has so many fans screaming at you is actually motivating,” he said afterwards. “I could feel the hairs on the back rising up over every hurdle that I attacked because I knew that sometimes people crumble under such pressure, but I think I held my own until the seventh hurdle. That’s where I started overthinking and things like that, so that’s where my race kind of went offline, but I’m happy with what I did today regardless.”

While it was a promising sign that three South Africans qualified for the 110m hurdles at the World Championships for the first time, neither of the trio progressed past the heats. World champs debutants John Adesola and Mondray Barnard both ran 13.57 seconds for sixth place in their respective heats, while Antonio Alkana was seventh in his, in 13.64 seconds.

“I had a bit of a bad start and started hitting hurdles from I think 1 already,” explained Antonio, a two-time Olympian. “My hips were low between the hurdles and that just messed up everything.”

Earlier in the day, Elroy Gelant was disappointed to finish 33rd in the men’s marathon in 2 hours 16 minutes 23 seconds, but satisfied to have at least reached the finish, with so many of the field having dropped out as the Tokyo heat took its toll.

“I’m disappointed with the position but happy with the finish,” he said.

Cheswill Johnson could only manage one legal jump of 7.55m in the long jump qualification, which was not enough to progress to the final, while Miré Reinstorf failed to clear a height in the women’s pole vault qualification. 

SA sprint duo make 100m history, but medals prove elusive in Tokyo final

Akani Simbine and Gift Leotlela ensured South Africa had two representatives in the 100m final for the first time in World Athletics Championships history in Tokyo on Sunday. But a medal was not to be for the duo, with Leotlela finishing fifth in 9.95 seconds and Simbine seventh in 10.04. By Karien Jonckheere

After a false start from Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who was then disqualified, it was Jamaica’s Oblique Seville who outgunned the pack to take gold in a speedy 9.77 seconds, with his compatriot Kishane Thompson second in 9.82 and defending world champion and Olympic gold medallist Noah Lyles settling for bronze in 9.89 seconds.

Speaking afterwards, Simbine explained he had suffered cramp at the beginning of the race – something he wasn’t able to overcome to perform at his best.

“I cramped up a bit at the start and just couldn’t recover from that,” he said. “We’re just going to reassess how the body is and hopefully I’m good to go for the [4x100m] relay.”

Unlike Simbine, who has now featured in seven major championship finals, Leotlela was competing in his first after an impressive two days, which included running a blistering 9.87 seconds in the heats.

“It was amazing, I don’t want to lie, starting from last night, and I got a lot of confidence from the heats… I ran three sub-10s in two days, so I’ll take that as a big win.”

Adriaan Wildschutt finished in 10th spot in the 10,000m final earlier in the evening after losing touch with the leaders with just under a lap to go. He finished in 28 minutes 59.47 seconds, with the gold going to Frenchman Jimmy Gressier in 28:55.77 seconds.

“I just had to stay connected and conserve as much energy as possible and see how hard I could close. I didn’t quite have it towards the end, but I was there with 300m to go and I’m pretty proud of that,” said Wildschutt.

Earlier in the evening, both Zakithi Nene and Lythe Pillay eased through their respective heats to book places in the 400m semifinals. Current world leader Nene won his heat in 44.34 seconds with Pillay second in his heat in 44.73.

“Not a lot of athletes can say they’ve gone into world championships as world leader and that’s an achievement on its own that one should be proud of. So I’m wearing my bib with pride, I’ve got a target on my back, but I’m ready to defend it,” he said of the special blue numbers reserved for those who have run the fastest times of the year in each event. 

The other South Africans to impress on Sunday were Marioné Fourie, who finished second in her 100m hurdles heat in 12.86 seconds to book a spot in Monday’s semifinals, while Tshepo Tshite finished sixth in his 1500m heat in 3:36.36 to also progress to the next round.

Simbine and Tshite secure semifinal spots while throwers fall short

Akani Simbine got his World Championships campaign off to a speedy start in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday night, winning his 100m heat in a time of 9.97 seconds. The two-time Olympic finalist is bidding to break his major championship medal drought and become the first African athlete to claim the world title.

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Fellow South African Benjamin Richardson just missed out on reaching the semifinals by a few thousandths of a second. Only the top three in each heat and the three fastest losers progressed. The 19-year-old finished fourth in his heat in 10.17 but two other athletes, Nigerian Usheoritse Itsekiri and Iran’s Hassan Taftian also recorded times of 10.17. When taking the thousands of a second into account, it was Itsekiri who progressed.

“I’m really happy to get that first run out the way, get the win out the way, and just feeling the track,” said Simbine afterwards. “It’s my first time inside the stadium today. Just running and winning and trusting my running pattern, and trusting how I race, and trusting the shape that I’m in, you know it’s paying off.” 

Speaking about South Africa’s chances in the 4x100m relay, Simbine added: “The relay really looks good, everybody must just stay healthy. Benji [Richardson] is young, you know he’s got a good career ahead, he’s going to have a good career like this. I’m looking forward to the relay, looking forward to fighting for the medal that’s also been missing for the longest time, so we shall see.”

Earlier in the evening Tshepo Tshite qualified for the semifinals of the 1500m after finishing second in the slowest heat of the night in 3:46.79. While Ryan Mphahlele ran a much quicker time of 3:39.16 in his heat to finish 10th, new World Athletics rules for the longer distances meant he missed out as only the top six in each heat progressed to the next round.

“The race was tactical but remember, this year the criteria have changed. It’s not all about how fast you run, it’s all about making sure that you’re in the top six. I think that was the reason the race was tactical,” explained Tshite.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s throwers struggled on Saturday with Olympic finalist Kyle Blignaut (18.82m) and Burger Lamprechts (19.52m) failing to qualify for the shot put final while Victor Hogan fell short in discus qualification, his 61.80m effort seeing him finishing in 27th place.

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