Despite difficult wind conditions, some sparkling results in Potchefstroom
Saturday 2 February 2008
Potchefstroom, South Africa - Hammer thrower Chris Harmse, Sunette Viljoen (javelin), Italian sprinter Simone Collio and hurdler Ockert Cillers sparkled at the Yellow Pages Series Meeting in Potchefstroom on Friday night (1).
Gusty winds played havoc midway through the meet. This led to the women’s High Jump and 100m Hurdles being cancelled. While any hopes of fast times in the 200m, 400m and Hurdles were significantly dented as athletes had to charge through a strong head wind on the home straight.
Solid throwing
In the men’s Hammer Throw, Harmse took his first step towards the Beijing Olympics with a throw of 74.00m, the exact B standard qualifier.
“This qualifying throw achieved this base level mainly on my strength training which has gone quite well. Now I need to pay more attention to improving my throwing technique. At the Yellow pages meet in Tshwane (March 7), I hope to throw much further and possibly close to the ‘A’ qualifying standard (77.50),” confirmed Harmse.
The quality of the women’s Javelin Throw competition lived up to the crowd’s expectation of high quality performances. Commonwealth Games champion Sunette Viljoen (58.51m) carried the day. Her training partner and Africa Champion Justine Robbeson (57.81), Britain’s Goldie Sayers (56.69m) and World Youth Champion Tazmin Brits (53.80) followed in that order.
“If it was not for the wind at least three of us would have surpass the 60m mark. This is my best performance in nearly two year. I am glad to have got over the injuries that kept me from realising my full potential last year,” said Viljoen.
There were other notable performances on the infield as Janus Robbert heaved the shot put to a distance of 19.14m, while 16-year-old Marizette Badenhorst ( 50.30) claimed victory in the women’s Hammer Throw.
Yaw Fosu-Amoah was also in cheerful mood after long jumping a distance of 7.90m. “I have never started the season with a jump this far. It gives me hope that I am on course to bettering my personal best of 8.05m which is also the ‘B’ standard qualifier,” confirmed the winner, Fosu-Amoah.
Some international flavour in the sprints
[b]Making his first appearance in South Africa’s premier track and field series, Italian 100m champion Simone Collio (10.32) outpaced Britain’s Christian Malcolm (10.43) and Kagiso Kumbane (10.46) to claim victory in the men’s dash. He was the most successful of the contingent of European athletes who are currently in Potchefstroom for warm weather training.
“This outdoor training is just what I need to get into shape with a view of bettering my 10.14 personal best this year. My goal this year is to run a sub 10.1, but it will be a bonus if I can better Piedro Minnea’s Italian record of 10.01,” remarked Collio. [/b]
Meanwhile [b]the vastly improved Isabella le Roux blew away the field to win the women’s 200m in a career best of 23.32 seconds.
“It is a pleasant surprise to run so fast at such an early stage in the season. Training under a new coach is paying off as my previous best in 200m was 23.94,” said Le Roux who earlier on had clocked 11.73 secs, a mere six hundredth off her 100m career best. In that race, Estie Witstock (11.55) and Tsholofelo Thipe (11.55) clocked identical personals best to finish ahead of All Africa Games silver medallist Nombulelo Mkenku (11.67). [/b]
Meanwhile [b]Ofentse Mogawane (46.49) signalled he has regained his 400m form after almost two year in the wilderness. He opened a huge lead in the first half of the race. When he hit the home straight he was able to hold off the spirited challenge from Sidwell miti (46.71) as well as hurdlers Louis van Zyl (46.79) and Alwyn Myburgh (47.13).
“It is great to be back at the top of my game,” said a delighted Mogawane. “My main challenge was finding company when doing endurance training. I finally got over the problem of endurance training by joining professional boxers. Later I would go into the gym with them and have fun with punch bags. I hope to soon qualify for the Beijing Olympics.” [/b]Cilliers makes comeback to form
Despite many high profile runners skipping the 400m Hurdles in favour of the sprints, there was sufficient depth to ensure an impressive winning time in the men’s race. Taking the limelight was Ockert Cilliers covered the distance in 49.69 seconds.
“Now that I will not be relocating to Netherlands, I might as well get on with the business of qualifying for the Olympics. The 400m Hurdles is a tough race in South Africa and I want to make clear impression before the field of Beijing qualifiers gets rather crowded,” says Cilliers.
Mark Ouma for the IAAF