South Africa has had a love affair with the women’s 800m race after Caster Semenya's back-to-back gold medal exploits in Rio de Janeiro (2016) and London (2012). Semenya might have continued her hold on the women’s 800m crown at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but she had been banned.
Now, four years later, there is a real chance of South Africa regaining its women’s 800m supremacy. International upstart Prudence Sekgodiso, 22, the heir apparent to Semenya, is a medal prospect.
When she lines up for round one of the 800m on the Stade de France’s purple track in Paris this evening, she will be listed as the world’s seventh-fastest. Bizarrely, two months ago, she was the world’s fastest over 800m this year after she clocked a world-leading time of 1:57.26 at the Diamond League meeting in Morocco.
With this time, Sekgodiso became the second-fastest South African in the history of the two-lap event, behind Semenya, who has a personal best time of 1:54.25, set at a Diamond League meeting in Paris in 2018.
A week after Sekgodiso clocked the impressive 1:57.26 in Morocco, Kenyan Mary Moraa clocked a new world-leading time of 1:56.71 in Eugene, Oregon.
Five other runners later passed Moraa’s world-leading mark.
The best time was returned by Brit Keely Hodgkinson, with 1:54.61 at the Diamond League meet in London two weeks ago. At the same meet, Jemma Reekie (1:55.61) and Georgia Bell (1:56.28) rounded out the top three for Great Britain.
Two other runners returned better times than Sekgodiso at the race in London ‒Jamaican Natoya Goule-Toppin (1:56.83) and France’s Rénelle Lamote (1:57.06).
This is the lie of the land for the women’s 800m race in Paris. With Sekgodiso only the world’s seventh-fastest, everything points to place in the final as she’s expected to progressed past round one and the semifinals. Thereafter, she’ll have to contend with the world’s best for a place on the podium.
South Africa’s crack shot-putter Kyle Blignaut, the gentle giant of South African athletics, looks a good bet to progress beyond this evening’s qualification round.
This will be his second crack at the Olympics. Three years ago in Tokyo, he became only the second South African to make an Olympic shot-put final (Janus Robberts achieved the feat at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney).
Blignaut’s career took a dramatic turn late last year when his long-time coach Pierre Blignaut died. He subsequently moved to Italy to join the camp of coach Paolo Dal Soglio, who is regarded as one of the world’s foremost shot-put coaches.
Dal Soglio has two Italian athletes ranked in the world’s top 10 in his stable. They are world No 2 Leonardo Fabbri (22.95m) and world No 8 Zane Weir (21.93m), who was born in South Africa.
With two world-class training partners, Blignaut is feeling good about his second Olympic appearance.
“Both the other athletes are among the best in the world so the Italian is doing something right. I’m just doing what he says, and I think that should yield some results sooner than later,” said Blignaut, who slots in at 23 on the 2024 list of best shot-put throws.