National champion Gift Leotlela again produced the best performance by a South African athlete on day two of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, taking fifth place in the men’s 100m final on Sunday.
Leotlela, who set a personal best of 9.87 seconds in the first-round heats the day before, crossed the line in 9.95 in the final.
Experienced countryman Akani Simbine completed the race in 10.04, taking seventh position.
Earlier, in the 100m semifinals, Simbine was third in his race in 9.96 and Leotlela also took third place in his race in 9.97.
Meanwhile, in the men’s 10 000m final, Adriaan Wildschutt finished 10th in a slow, tactical race in 28:59.47.
Up front, French athlete Jimmy Gressier won gold in 28:55.77, kicking hard to triumph in a blanket finish.
Results of first-round heats
In other events, SA champion Zakithi Nene won his first-round 400m race in 44.34 and Lythe Pillay took second position in his heat in 44.73.
Both athletes progressed safely through to the men’s one-lap semifinals to be held on Tuesday.
Marione Fourie, the SA record holder in the 100m hurdles, was second in her heat in 12.86 seconds, also qualifying for the semifinals of her specialist event to be held on Monday.
Middle-distance runner Tshepo Tshite did well to take sixth position in his 1 500m heat in 3:36.36, and he will be back on the track for the semifinals on Monday.
His compatriot, Ryan Mphahlele, settled for 13th spot in his first-round race in the metric mile in 3:45.22, and he was eliminated ahead of the penultimate round.
Shirley Nekhubui, who was a member of the mixed 4x400m relay team who finished sixth in the final the day before, again ended sixth, this time in her first-round heat in the women’s 400m event. She completed the one-lap race in 51.82 and missed out on a place in the semifinals.
Miranda Coetzee, who formed part of the team who broke the African record in the mixed 4x400m relay heats, trailed home in 57.78 seconds, finishing last in her race in the opening round of the 400m sprint.
Brian Raats did not clear the opening height of 2.16m in the men’s high jump.
Schedule of SA athletes on day three (Monday)
Early session
12.30am – marathon men, final (Elroy Gelant)
2.05am – pole vault women, qualification (Mire Reinstorf)
4.20am – 400m hurdles women, heats (Zeney van der Walt, Rogail Joseph)
Late session
12.35pm – 400m hurdles men, heats (Sabelo Dhlamini)
12.40pm – long jump men, qualification (Cheswill Johnson)
1.20pm – 110m hurdles men, heats (Mondray Barnard, Antonio Alkana, John Adesola)
2.05 pm – 100m hurdles women, semifinals (Marione Fourie)
2.30pm – 1 500m men, semifinals (Tshepo Tshite)
3.20pm – 100m hurdles women, final (Fourie)
* Featured image of Akani Simbine and Gift Leotlela by Erin Groll
