Three South Africans — world champion Jacques Freitag, hurdler Surita Febbraio and 800m runner Werner Botha — all recorded fine wins at the African Permit International athletics meeting held in Dakar, Senegal, on Sunday.
An enthusiastic crowd of 50 000 spectators attended the meeting at the Leopold Senghor Stadium and their Senegalese favourite, Amy Backe Thiam, former world 400m champion, did not disappoint them by winning in a fast 52,52 seconds.
Freitag won the high jump with a solid 2,28m. Febbraio, who has improved her best time of the year from race to race, did so again with a winning time of 55,84 seconds, only 0,24 seconds outside the A qualifying standard for the World Championships in Finland.
Her previous best of 2005 was 56,01 seconds.
Werner Botha, who recently came very close to qualifying for Helsinki, won the 800m in one minute and 47,35 seconds. Khotso Mokoena, the 19-year-old South African long- and triple-jump star, finished third in the long jump with a fine 7,9m.
According to the International Association of Athletics Federations website, a strong following wind assisted the jumpers, and local star Ndiss Badji of Senegal made full use of it to win the event with a massive 8,3m jump.
It also aided the sprinters, with Aziz Zakari of Ghana winning the 100m in 10,02 seconds. Morne Nagel (South Africa) finished fourth in 10,49 second and clocked 21,08 seconds (sixth) in the 200m.
Estie Wittstock was unplaced in the women’s 400m with a time of 53,28 seconds. — Sapa