South African athletes fail to reach finals in Budapest
Three South African representatives failed to advance past the semifinals in the opening session of the debut World Athletics Ultimate Championships tournament in Budapest, Hungary. All of them competed on Friday evening, TimesLIVE reports.
Nene seventh in the 400 metres
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in the 400 metres Zakithi Nene finished seventh in his semifinal with a time of 45.30 seconds. He remained among the contenders to advance to the next round coming out of the bend, but lost pace on the home straight.
The top four athletes from each semifinal advanced to the final. The fastest qualifier for Saturday's final was reigning world champion Collen Kebinatshipi of Botswana, who recorded 44.23 seconds.
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800 metres and hurdles races
Olympic finalist Prudence Sekgodiso finished sixth in the women's 800-metre semifinal with a time of 1 minute 59.66 seconds. During her sprint to the finish, her performance was complicated by Veronica Vankardo falling in her path.
Marione Fourie also took sixth place in the 100-metre hurdles semifinal, running 12.84 seconds. She was unable to recover after a slow start. On Saturday, Akani Simbine and Gift Leotlela will compete for South Africa in the 100 metres, while Sinesipho Dambile is due to run the 200-metre semifinal on Sunday.
