Caster Semenya was hoping for serious opposition to push her to a fast time in Thursday’s Varsity Athletics meet in Stellenbosch, but that won’t be possible anymore.
Credit: BackpagePix
Caster Semenya got the crowd going in the 400m at the Varsity Athletics meet in Stellenbosch. Photo: Chris RiccoStar Maties sprinter Justine Palframan was set to provide Semenya with a real challenge in the 400m at Coetzenburg, but pulled out of the event on Thursday morning with a hamstring niggle picked up in training.
Palframan has a personal best of 51.27, two-tenths of a second quicker than Semenya’s PB of 51.47, so it would’ve made for an enthralling race.
But the athletics manager at Stellenbosch University, Mohamed Ally, said that it wasn’t worth it to risk exacerbating Palframan’s injury, especially with the South African National Track and Field Championships coming up next weekend at the same venue.
“It is a huge blow for us, but fortunately it is not serious,” Ally said in a statement. “We have to however take the necessary precautions to make sure the injury does not become serious and for that reason, we advised Justine to withdraw from the meeting.”
But Semenya is ready to go for her race, which is scheduled to take place at 7.05pm, and told Independent Media on Wednesday that the 400m is part of her speed work for her specialist 800m. The 2012 Olympic silver medallist revealed that she would be running in the 800m and 1 500 at the national championships at Coetzenburg next weekend.
On Thursday evening, apart from Semenya, there are a number of top athletics hoping to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August, such as men’s long jumper Ruswahl Samaai, 800m runner Rynardt van Rensburg, women’s long jumper Lynique Prinsloo and high jumper Julia du Plessis, while the Youth Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles, Gezelle Magerman, will be racing close to her home town of Paarl.
Tickets for Thursday’s event, which starts at 4.30pm, are available for free on the Varsity Sports App in the Google Play and App Store, while it can also be purchased for R10 online or R20 at the gate.
ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za
@IndyCapeSport - Independent Media