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London - Although she lost touch with the leaders in the early stages of a fast race, Dominique Scott-Efurd gritted her teeth over the last few laps and held on to finish 15th in the women's 5 000m event on Sunday at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in London.
Scott-Efurd finished in 14:59.08, slicing more than five seconds off her personal best and joining national record holder Elana Meyer as the only SA women to have dipped under 15 minutes over 12-and-a-half laps.
She also achieved the required qualifying standard for the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar later this year, sticking up her hand for a place in the ASA provisional squad.
Up front, world champion Hellen Obiri of Kenya launched a late sprint to win the race in 14:22.12.
In the men's 110m hurdles race (not an IAAF Diamond League series event) national record holder Antonio Alkana took fifth place in 13.51 seconds, with Asian champion Wenjun Xie of China grabbing the win in 13.28.
Closing out an impressive all-round performance by the SA contingent at the two-day meeting, Wenda Nel settled for eighth position in the women's 400m hurdles event in 56.39.
Rushell Clayton of Jamaica stormed to victory in 54.16.
Earlier on Saturday, Akani Simbine had won the men's 100m race in 9.93, with Luvo Manyonga (8.37m) and Ruswahl Samaai (8.11m) finishing first and third, respectively in the men's long jump.
The 11th of 14 legs in the IAAF Diamond League series will be held in Birmingham, England on 18 August 2019.
“We appreciate all efforts at this edition by our athletes in London. In particular we must recognise the hard work that is beginning to pay off for Dominique who now joins the exclusive sub-15 time club.
“A lot of work still needs to done by all athletes to improve individual performances as we countdown to the podium contests at the World Champs,” said Aleck Skhosana, president of Athletics South Africa.
