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Cape Town - Versatile jumper Khotso Mokoena will make a lone South African appearance at the Bislett Games in Oslo on Thursday night, as the IAAF Diamond League series reaches the halfway point with the annual Norwegian meeting playing host to the seventh leg of the top-flight campaign.
Mokoena, a former world junior Triple Jump champion and Olympic Long Jump silver medallist, will compete in the men's hop, skip and jump.
Having already qualified for both disciplines at the Rio Games in August, Mokoena has had a sedate start to the season, and the other seven men in the Oslo Triple Jump line-up have all leaped further than his 16.48m Season's Best.
The SA record holder, who boasts a career best of 17.35m, will have a chance to approach his best form against a world-class field which includes former world champions Nelson Evora of Portugal and Teddy Tamgho of France.
While 400m Hurdles specialist LJ van Zyl was also expected to compete in Oslo, he withdrew as a precautionary measure after picking up a minor back injury.
Following a spectacular start to the international season, SA athletes are well positioned in the Diamond League races in their respective disciplines, with Caster Semenya (first, Women's 800m), Sunette Viljoen (second, women's Javelin Throw), Ruswahl Samaai (second, Men's Long Jump) and Wayde van Niekerk (tied third, Men's 400m) all lying in podium positions after six meetings in the series.
While none of these athletes will be in action in Oslo, they will have multiple opportunities to improve their standings in the second half of the campaign.
Mokoena will compete at 6.55pm (SA time), ahead of the main programme for the meeting which starts at 8pm
