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Johannesburg - South African javelin queen Sunette Viljoen and London Olympian Andre Olivier will have steady progress in mind when they line up at the Rome Diamond League meeting on Thursday.
The duo qualified for the World Athletics Championships, to be held in Moscow in August, in their respective events last week.
Olivier, the South African 800m champion, clocked one minute, 44.74 (1:44.74) seconds at the International Flanders Athletics Meeting in Belgium on Saturday, dipping well below the qualifying time of 1:45.30.
The South African will go up against a talented field in Rome which includes 18-year-old Olympic bronze medallist Timothy Kitum of Kenya, who boasts a personal best time of 1:42.53.
The greatest threat, however, is expected to come from another teenager in Ethiopia's Mohammed Aman.
The 19-year-old Aman is the only athlete that has beaten Kenyan world record holder David Rudisha in the last three years.
Meanwhile, Viljoen will look to continue her upwards curve in her specialist event after she qualified for the world championships at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday night.
Viljoen, finished third in the women's javelin throw with a second-round heave of 63.00 metres -- one metre further than the qualifying mark.
She will continue her tussle with Russia's Mariya Abakumova, who boasts a world leading heave of 69.34m.
