Viljoen to push for her best

Johannesburg - African record holder Sunette Viljoen will face a golden opportunity to improve her continental mark in the women’s javelin throw when she turns out at the Gold Gala athletics meeting in Rome on Thursday night.

The 26-year-old, the only South African in the provisional entry lists available on Wednesday, faces a sterling field at the meeting, the fourth of 14 stops in the IAAF Diamond League season race.

World record holder Barbara Spotakova of the Czech Republic heads a field of nine, having set the second best distance of the year with a 67.33m heave in Doha a month ago.

Viljoen is ranked fifth in the world this season, and three of the four women ahead of her will line up in Rome, including Martina Ratej of Slovakia (67.16m) and Germany’s Christina Obergfoll (65.95). The only absentee is Mariya Abakumova of Russia, who produced a 68.89m world lead in Doha.

The South African, who will defend her Commonwealth title in Delhi in October, has gone over 60m four times this year, and although two of those performances were wind aided, she threw a 63.45m legal effort to win the national title in Durban in March.

Viljoen set her continental record of 65.43m in July last year at the World Student Games in Belgrade.