GOLD COAST - South Africa’s Caster Semenya produced an impressive performance to win her 1500m heat at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia, on Monday.
The 800m specialist won in a time of 4 minutes 5.86 seconds, as she powered her way to a comfortable victory. Aussie Georgia Griffith was second in 4:06.41 with Kenya’s Mary Kuria third in 4:06.58.
Semenya took the lead from the start, in what seemed a concerted effort to dictate the pace in her less-favoured event. At the front, Semenya took the field through the first 400m in 65 seconds. A 69 second lap followed as the athletes hit the 800m mark in 2:15.
Down the final straight, Semenya eased her way ahead of the chasers to complete the resounding win.
Earlier, SA's World Under-18 champion Breyton Pool was unable to advance in the men’s long jump at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia, on Monday.
Needing a 2.27-metre height to guarantee a place in the final, the Cape Town youngster (who has a personal best 2.25m) cleared 2.18 with his first jump but was unable to make the grade with the bar set at 2.21.
“Sure it’s a tough pill to swallow but I’ve got many years ahead of me,” said Poole. “I was busy with my take-off but the moment I jumped they said it was an automatic no-jump because the time was up.
"I still have much more to improve on and work on. But I’ll be back… for now just being in presence of these legends of high jump is an honour, as it is to represent South Africa.”
In the men’s 110m hurdles, qualifying Antonio Alkana breezed into Tuesday evening’s final as an automatic qualifier. He ended second in a time of 13.32 seconds, behind England’s Andrew Pozzi (13.29).
“I’m happy with the result even though my start wasn’t as good as it was in the warm-up. Conditions were hot but that’s just the way we want it here,” said Alkana.