Posted on 03 February 2007 - 14:57
Three South African athletes have so far qualified in the A category for the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships to be held in Osaka, Japan, in September.
Justine Robbeson and Alwyn Myburgh, two of the best athletes in the country, secured their places in the provisional national team at the second of six Yellow Pages Ultimate Athletics meetings in Potchefstroom on Friday night.
The third qualifier, Elizna Naude, had sealed her place in the discus event at the first meeting a week earlier at Secunda.
Robbeson, world junior heptathlon champion in 2004 and currently a student at the North West University, thrilled the Potchefstroom crowd with an excellent throw of 62.51 metres.
It exceeded the official entry standard for Osaka by 1.51 metres.
At the end of 2006 the 21-year-old Justine was officially ranked 8th by the IAAF in the women’s javelin.
She set her national and continental record of 62.80 m in Finland last year, won the African title in Mauritius and, representing Africa, finished third at the IAAF World Cup meeting in Athens.
Earlier in the year she missed the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne through injury.
Terseus Liebenberg, one of the world’s top javelin experts, is her coach at Potchefstroom.
Alwyn Myburgh, enjoying a top-class fifth global ranking by the IAAF, clocked 49.16 seconds on Friday night and turned the tables on his training partner, Ter de Villiers, who won the first Yellow Pages 400 m hurdles at Secunda the previous week.
The required standard is 49.20 seconds.
De Villiers narrowly failed to qualify at Secunda but in the latest race he had to be satisfied with a time of 49.43 seconds in second spot.
It is expected to be just a matter of time before he and LJ van Zyl will join Myburgh to secure their places in the national team.
National 100 m champion Sherwin Vries recorded his second win of the year with a fast 10.27 seconds - he did 10.29 seconds at Secunda - and just managed to hold off Snyman Prinsloo, who set a personal best of 10.32 seconds.
Vries ran just inside the IAAF B standard of 10.28 seconds but the main of the leading sprinters is to get down to the A mark of 10.21 seconds.
In the men’s javelin Gerbrandt Grobler also exceeded the IAAF B standard of 77.80 m with a fine throw of 77.85 m.
Tommie du Toit set a personal best of 78.03 in second while Brian Erasmus also showed very good form with a throw of 77.68 m.