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Johannesburg - Olympic silver medalist Khotso Mokoena will start the defence of his long jump series title at the Shanghai leg of the Diamond League on Sunday.
In 2014, the horizontal-jumps king became the first South African athlete to claim overall victory in the men’s long jump after finishing on top of the international Diamond League standings.
While Mokoena focused on the triple jump during the domestic season, he will continue his international battle in the long jump with the likes of Olympic gold medalist Greg Rutherford of Britain and Russia’s Aleksandr Menkov.
The line-up in Shanghai includes the who’s who of long jumping - with Mokoena, Rutherford, Menkov and the United States’ Jeff Henderson each boasting personal best's of over 8.50 metres.
Mokoena will be joined in Shanghai by javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen, who goes into the meeting with a world-leading heave of 66.62m, and Victor Hogan.
The 31-year-old Viljoen will have her work cut out as she faces the best women’s javelin throwers in the world.
Among her competitors are world champion Christina Obergföll of Germany, Russia’s Mariya Abakumova and Kim Mickle of Australia, who boasts with a season’s best of 66.57m.
South African discus ace Victor Hogan will go up against Germany's Olympic champion Robert Harting as well as the Olympic silver medalist, Piotr Malachowski of Poland.
