Athletics
800m top priority for Caster
2011-04-08 18:53
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Caster Semenya (Gallo Images)
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Johannesburg - The mark of success this weekend will rest on the ability to win two medals with the majority of the country’s elite focussing on more than one event at the South African Athletics Championships in Durban.
Michael Seme, who coaches 10 of the athletes competing in the two-day championships, said his charges would be doubling up in an effort to ensure they reached the qualifying standard for this year’s World Championships in at least one discipline.
Global two-lap champion Caster Semenya will line-up in the women’s 800m and 1 500m, but Seme said his best known athlete would focus on her specialist event.
"The 1 500m is not a problem, even if she doesn’t qualify. The most important thing is the 800m," Seme said on Friday.
"A good time in the 800m will give her a good base to work from when she goes over to Europe later this year.
"Once she has qualified for the 800m she can worry about reaching the standard in the 1 500m."
Another of Seme’s athletes, Stephen Mokoka, may also double up in the two longest track events, after initially stating he would only compete in the men’s 10 000m race.
"Stephen wants a fast time in the 10 000m because he wants to qualify for the world championships," Seme said.
"He has entered the 5 000m as well, but we will decide this weekend if he will run both events.
"As long as he qualifies in one event, we will be happy."
Mokoka, who won the 1 500m and 10 000m at last year’s national championships, and clocked 2:08.33 in his debut marathon in Seoul in November, has been tipped to break Hendrick Ramaala’s South African record (27:29.94) over 25 laps.
Seme, however, said Mokoka would not be making a record attempt, but would focus on reaching at least the B qualifying standard of 28:00 for the global championships in Daegu in August.
Olympic and world long jump silver medallist Khotso Mokoena is another who will double up.
Mokoena will compete in his specialist event and the triple jump, a discipline in which he excelled as a junior.
Going against the grain is distance runner Rene Kalmer, who usually competes in both the 1 500m and 5 000m, and has even been know to throw in the 800m as a third event.
Kalmer, who is shifting her focus to the road, will compete in only the women’s 5 000m race on Saturday when she defends the title she won last year.
The 30-year-old will miss the 1 500m final on Sunday, when she will line-up at the Spar women’s 10km race in Cape Town, but said she still hoped for fast times on the track in preparation for the Prague Marathon in May.
"My main focus is on the marathon, but I want to run track to work on my speed in my build-up to longer road races," Kalmer said.
Kalmer, however, sent a warning to her competitors who may have thought she would be an easy target this weekend.
"I’m in good shape and I’m hoping to run a personal best," she said.