Reuben Ramolefi (r) (© Mark Ouma)
Olympic finalist Reuben Ramolefi qualified for the World Athletics Championship at the Yellow Pages Series meet in eThekwini South Africa on Friday (6) night.
Robert Osthuizen (javelin) and Juan van Deventer (1500m) made impressive starts in their season. Taking advantage of competing at coast for the first time this year in the series, several middle and long distance runners achieved the best performances of their individual careers. At this rate of improvement some of South Africa’s long standing track records are under threat this year.
Taking on the challenge with commitment in the men’s 3000m Steeplechase, Ramolefi and little-known Thuso Phaswana went into the lead from the starter’s gun. The pair ran together until 2000m when Ramolefi stepped up his pace and Phaswana began to steadily fade.
Ramolefi qualified for the World Athletics Championships with a winning time of 8:20.48. Such was the pace that newcomers Sikhumbuso Seme (8:41.81), Phaswana (8:45.04), Edwin Molepo (8:45.70), and Dikotsi Lekopa (8:46.49) all achieved lifetime bests.
“I started out cautiously as I did not know much about my opponents,” Ramolefi said. “Besides I had some tough training session this week. My overall form is good. I just need to better my technique over the water jump so that I cover each lap in a faster time.” He has his sights set on improving the national record of 8:19.00.
Hot men’s 1500m
Perhaps the most keenly contested race of the meet was the men’s 1500m. While Juan van Deventer lead most of the way Tshamano Setome, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, Andre Olivier and Pieter van der Westhuizen were close by in hot pursuit. With 300m to the finish Mulaudzi made a move which injected pace into the race. He briefly took charge of proceeding as Van Deventer responded and gradually re-establish a small lead on the home straight. However it was Setone who looked most dangerous in the spirited sprint for the finish line.
It took an analysis of the photo-finish to confirm that van Deventer carried the day in 3:38.28, a hundredth of a second ahead of Setone. Mulaudzi clocked a career best of 3:38.55. In all ten athletes established their career best times in the first 1500m race of the series.
“This was always going to be a tough race,” van Deventer said. “I was a bit cautious in the first half of the race because of the fast finishers like Andre Olivier, Setone, and Mulaudzi in the picture. By world standards our national best (3:33.56) is a soft record. Between us we should lower this time this year.”
Oosthiuzen satisfied with '09 debut
The men’s Javelin Throw featured a rare duel between Olympian Robert Oosthiuzen and Hardus Pienaar. Oosthiuizen prevailed with an 80.78m effort to Pienaar’s 77.59m. Although he missed the World Championships A qualifying standard by 22 centimetres, Oosthuizen was quite happy with his performance.
“I am satisfied with my performance in this my first competition since the Beijing Olympics,” Oosthuizen said. “Besides qualifying for Berlin, I want over the next few months to consistently throw over 83m. That will put me in good stead for the big meets later in the year.”
Elsewhere...
More all-time best were achieved by 5000m runners Stephen Mokoka (13:44.22) and Lebo Phalula (15:57.80). Other life time bests came through Thuso Mpuang (10.40) in 100m and Marc Mundell (44:04.48) in the 10km Race Walk. Nolene Conrad (10:07.90) came just over two seconds shy of improving her 3000m Steeplechase best (10:05.30) which was briefly a nationals record.
Mark Ouma for the IAAF
