Athletics
Pienaar stuns to bag silver
2010-09-05 21:53
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Hardus Pienaar (Gallo Images)
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Split - Hardus Pienaar heaved his best effort in more than four years to finish second in the men's javelin throw at the IAAF Continental Cup in Split, Croatia on Sunday night.
It was a disappointing championship for South Africans representing team Africa, with a silver medal from Sunette Viljoen and a consolation bronze in the men's 4X100m relay highlighting a poor display on Saturday's opening day.
Pienaar, a three-time African champion and a silver medallist at the 2006 World Cup, burst back into form to throw over 80m for the first time since June 2008.
Ranked 50th in the world before the weekend, the 29-year-old was lying fifth after three rounds of competition.
With his fourth and final attempt, however, Pienaar heaved a superb 83.17m effort to finish ahead of European champion Matthias de Zordo of Germany, who placed third with a best of 82.89m. World and Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway won comfortably with a championship record of 89.26m.
Estie Wittstock was seventh in the women's 200m sprint in 24.05 seconds, and Victor Hogan was a distant last in the men's discus throw.
On Saturday, Viljoen had produced a solid 62.21m second-round effort to secure the silver medal in the women's javelin throw, holding off Australian Kimberley Mickle who threw 61.36m to earn bronze for the Asia-Pacific team.
Russian Maria Abakumova heaved a championship record to win easily with a best of 68.14m, clinching gold for Europe. Viljoen's Africa team-mate, Egyptian Hana'a Ramadhan Omar, set a national record of 58.16m to place fifth.
The men's short sprint relay team, made up entirely of South Africans, took third after Europe were disqualified, reducing the race to only three teams.
Hannes Dreyer, Simon Magakwe, Wilhelm van der Vyver and Thuso Mpuang settled for the bronze, clocking 39.82 seconds in a race won comfortably by the Americas, spearheaded by Tyson Gay.
LJ van Zyl was a disappointing fifth in the men's 110m hurdles in 49.97, with Burger Lambrechts taking sixth in the men's shot put with a best of 18.81m.
Elizna Naude and Chris Harmse both finished a lowly seventh in the women's discus and men's hammer throw respectively. Olympic long jump silver medallist Khotso Mokoena, included in the entry lists before the event, did not take part. Africa placed third of four continental teams, with Europe taking victory.
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