The former Olympic champion Justin Gatlin will get the first serious test since his return from a four-year doping ban on Tuesday at a meet in Rovereto, Italy.
Great track, very very fast…just 2 issues…usually headwind, nad temperature 2 days ago, when I was there, was like 17 degrees, but the track is a Jem, a new mondo track from last year.
Padova otherwise is not so fast.
Well, the field is quite strong with many known entities, so we’ll have a very good idea of how fast he’d be if the conditions are good (in the event they aren’t).
Justin 10.09, 2nd, behind Blake. wind +0.9
Semenya places 9th; Gatlin improves time
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By Andrew Dampf, AP Sports Writer
ROVERETO, Italy — World champion Caster Semenya finished a surprising ninth in the 800 meters and former Olympic champion Justin Gatlin placed second in the 100 with his best time since returning from a four-year doping ban Tuesday at the Palio della Quercia meet.
Gatlin clocked 10.09 seconds, three hundredths behind Jamaican winner Johan Blake at the competition in northern Italy.
Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius had a tough night, placing third in the 400 B race in 47.14 seconds, far off the 45.95 he needs to qualify for next year’s world championships.
In her fifth race following an 11-month gender dispute, Semenya clocked a dismal 2 minutes, 7.16 seconds.
Elisa Cusma Piccione of Italy, who openly questioned Semenya’s gender at last year’s worlds in Berlin, won in 2:00.37.
It’s Semenya’s second consecutive loss after she placed third at the Diamond League meet in Brussels on Friday.
Despite the loss in Brussels, Semenya still clocked 1 minute, 59.66 seconds <emdash /> the fastest time of her comeback. This time she was nowhere close to victory.
Semenya stood third to last after the first lap and never made a move to the front, giving the impression she was just out for a casual jog.
“Nothing happened. I ran the race, I ran slow. Nothing happened. It’s part of the game,” Semenya said. “Sometimes you need to go according to your body.”
Afterward, Semenya walked over to Cusma Piccione and congratulated the Italian.
Gatlin maintained his focus despite two false starts, which disqualified two runners <emdash /> Ryan Bailey of the United States and Fabio Cerutti of Italy.
“It was a good practice for me and I bettered my time as well,” Gatlin said. “I tweaked my quad just a little bit coming into home and had to slow a little bit but all in all it was a good race, going against good competitors.”
Gatlin added that he hopes to go under 10 seconds at his next meet in Padua on Friday.
Pistorius attributed his disappointing performance to fatigue, having flown in from South Africa earlier Tuesday after attending his grandfather’s 93rd birthday.
wow after 4 year lay off he is creeping into the 9.9 sec territory.
There’s been speculation that she’s been holding back so she doesn’t create more controversy and then will push it next year after things have quieted down.
this guy blake looks very very good…reminds me of linford christie with technique. gatlin i still think will break 10 this year
gatlin looked pretty solid, blake did seem to be limping around after the race, hope he’s ok.