Upsets at ASA National champs

Although Akani Simbine become the fastest ever South African at the coast with a 10.06 for his 100m semi-final, Henricho Bruintjies, who ran 10.16 in the semis, had confidence and control in his qualifying rounds that ensured the final was going to be a tightly fought event between the training partners.

“My objective is to run a perfect race and if that happens then the time will come,” said Simbine after his semi final, but it was not to be.

Bruintjies took the line in 10.17 seconds with Simbine recording a 10.21, with the much larger figure of Emile Erasmus ensuring an Gauteng North clean sweep in 10.29. Both Erasmus and Simbine hobbled off after the line having injured themselves in the deceleration.

“It wasn't about the time for me, it was about getting the title back,” said Bruintjies who only recently also moved coach to join Bernard Prinsloo. 

“Although I am happy with the title, I really hope Akani is not injured badly and can get back soon, we have definitely benefitted by training together and it works well with him and the new coach.”

Carina Horn looked the most dominant in the women's 100m heats and semi finals running an 11.27 race to beat the Rio qualifying time at the coast, with a sub 11.20 in mind for the final. Alyssa Conley progressed through to the final with an 11.37 finish and although she was known to be a force, she was the underdog for the final.

With Horn losing form in a ‘speed wobble’ around 40 metres she never recovered which saw Conley capitalize on the opportunity to take the title in 11.36, with Horn one hundredth of a second adrift.

“There is no question that the colder conditions of the evening cost us time in the final,” said Conley.

It was generally felt that the sprinters could have achieved more with earlier finals. Meanwhile the distance runners, in particular Elroy Galant’s and Irvette van Zyl’s 5000m races, would have benefited significantly by swapping times.

LJ van Zyl won his eighth SA Title when he ran 49.35 for the 400m hurdles beating Cornel Fredericks into second place in 49.75.

It was the 100^th time that van Zyl, who won his first title in 2003, dipped under 49.50 seconds and his 138^th sub 50 second race. This time also beat the Rio qualifier by 0.05 seconds and could see him in his third Olympics.

Although Fredericks was disappointed with his time, he has only commenced his season and will be competing internationally in the Diamond League with more time to get his qualifier.

Constant Pretorius earned the bronze medal in 50.00 seconds.

“It seems who ever put the programme together was not an athlete” said Van Zyl about the mere six hour recovery period between the heats and the final. 

“It’s not about me but what of the others who have so much potential but lose the chance to recover and target a qualifying time. We have a squad of youngsters who could have done so much better, but really won't have the opportunity of such a level of competition in the rest of the season.”  

Wenda Nel was totally dominant in the women’s 400m hurdles where she ran a qualifying 54.85. 

“I had hoped to get a 55 and thought I may be able to break it, but it was my first (hurdle) race of the season so I am very happy with the result,” said Nel who joined the growing list of Rio qualifiers.

There was good news for Caster Semenya who commenced her attempt on a grueling ‘Triple Challenge’ to win the 1500m, 800m and 400m titles, when the 1500m was changed to a straight final.

With only 15 of the entered 16 athletes reporting for the heats, the organizers cancelled the two heats combining them for a single final at 17h20 on Saturday.

However, Semenya was hardly challenged in her opening 400m and she cruised over the line in 55.16 seconds for the slowest heat of three.

Her next outing of the day, the 800m heats, was to be followed by the 400m semis, but those were also combined into a final on Saturday at 13h10.    

The 800m Olympic silver medalist is currently the third fastest in the world over the single lap and she ran a solid heat out front to record 2:00.46.  The Northwest athlete looks in great form in her bid to go sub 2 minutes.

USA based Dominique Scott can be expected to provide the greatest challenge to Semenya’s triple.

Scott, who had contemplated the 1500m and 5000m double, settled for the shorter metric mile and has a season’s best of 4:08 for 1500, while Semenya has 4:17 against her name.

However should Semenya go sub 2 minutes for the double lapper, then a 4:04 is also possible and that will make from an incredibly exciting title tussle as both target the 4:07 Rio qualifier.

There is even a possibility that Semenya could go sub 4 minutes based on her speed over 400 metres, but whether that can come after the rigors of the next 24 hours would be a historic achievement.

Either way its going to be a hard but exciting day for Semenya and the spectators at the Coetzenberg track.

Victor Hogan was confident that a good throw was on the cards the night before the championships.

"I didn't have a great night sleep, but it wasn’t from nerves, it was excitement at knowing I could do something special,” said the Discus giant sporting a Viking look. 

“I was thinking something around a 65m (the Rio Qualifier) perhaps" said Hogan who had only two recognized throws with 59.65metres on his second attempt and the massive 67.62 on his fourth.

“I guess this breaks new ground and I will have to re-think my plans for the season. I had hoped that my 64 metre throws may get me a Diamond League meeting, but now I guess I will have more options.”

Hogan praised his coach Kaai Preller for his improvement citing both technique and mental preparation as the keys to his improvement.

“Kaai has been so positive and supportive, and put more focus in power and speed in my technique,” continued Hogan who is now the third best ever in South African Discus throwing behind Frantz Kruger, who was also coached by Preller.

Dumisane Hlaselo topped the rankings from the three 1500m heats with a 3:38.09 with World Championships Bronze medalist Johan Cronje shadowing him home in 3:38.45.

Despite the heat Hlaselo had gone out for the 3:36.20 qualification time, and will no doubt hope to recover sufficiently for a second attempt in cooler conditions on Saturday at 17h10.

Jacon Rozani led the rankings in the 800m with 1:46.69 from his fourth heat victory that saw all but the two winners of the first heat break 1:49 to qualify for the final on Saturday afternoon. Motlalepula Mothosola was also forced to dip under the 1:47 barrier to win his heat, while Andre Olivier won heat two in 1:47.79, which suggests there is a good strength in depth in the country with a tough race on the cards both for the title and the 1:46.00 qualifying mark.

As expected World champion Wayde van Niekerk had no problem in qualifying for the 400m final, which will be held on Saturday at 13h20. The question is not about the title, but rather what time van Niekerk will run in front of his home crowd.