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Johannesburg - South African women's javelin record holder Sunette Viljoen has won the silver medal at the Shanghai leg of the Diamond League on Sunday.
Her performance in China brought an end to a superb weekend for South African track and field with two national records being broken.
Sprinting ace Anaso Jobodwana set a new men’s 200m record at the Cayman Invitational on Saturday, while hammer thrower Annemie Smith improved on her own record of she set in 2014 with a best toss of 60.99m.
Morné Nagel's record 20.11 seconds record from 2002 finally tumbled when Jobodwana posted a time of 20.06 in the Caribbean nation.
Viljoen’s best throw of 63.60m earned her the silver medal behind China’s Lu Huihui, who achieved a meeting record with a throw of 64.08m.
Olympic long jump silver medallist Khotso Mokoena fell short of a podium spot but managed to meet the IAAF World Championships qualifying standard with a best leap of 8.11m.
However, the first three places were reserved for men going further than 8.20m with Russia’s Alexandr Menkov taking the spoils with his 8.27m.
Jeff Henderson of the United States finished in second place with a jump of 8.25m with China’s Wang Jianan bagging bronze with 8.25m.
Discus thrower Victor Hogan was off his best managing only two legal throws with his best of 60.01m off the pace.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Zarck Visser made a successful return from injury by also qualifying for the IAAF World Championships in Beijing later this year.
Visser opened with his best jump of the day measuring 8.18m at the Athletics SA Invitational Meeting in Germiston on Saturday.
In the Diamond League opener in Doha on Friday, South African 400m hurdles record holder LJ van Zyl had some problems finding his rhythm in his specialist event to finish in sixth place with a time of 49.48 seconds.
