Caster Semenya won her first race after a lengthy injury layoff on Wednesday night, but fell well short in her attempt to qualify for next month’s IAAF World Championships.
The South African clocked a pedestrian 2:06.58 to win the women’s 800m race at the Lahti Games in Finland – her first competitive outing since last year’s London Olympic Games, after recovering from a long-term knee injury.
Charlene Lipsey of the United States finished second in 2:06.96.
Semenya’s agent, Jukka Harkonen, said earlier this week she had no other races scheduled, but he had previously confirmed she would attempt to meet the 2:00.00 standard for the global spectacle in Moscow, Russia, before the July 29 deadline.
The 22-year-old Olympic silver medallist is hoping to step on the podium at the biennial world championships for the third time in succession, after winning gold in Berlin in 2009 and silver in Daegu in 2011.
Meanwhile, fellow South African Zarck Visser won the men’s long jump in Lahti with a best leap of 8.09m.
Countryman Khotso Mokoena finished third in a closely fought contest with a jump of 8.06m. Ignisious Gaisah, born in Ghana but now competing for the Netherlands, took second place with a best effort of 8.08m.
South African record holder Ruben Ramolefi was eighth in the men’s 3000m steeplechase in 8:54.56. Jonathan Ndiku of Kenya won the race in 8:25.08.
RESULTS:
M 200m: (-1,0): 1) Mario Forsythe JAM 20,62, 2) Edino Steele JAM 20,88, 3) Kind Butler USA 20,98, 4) Jonathan Åstrand IFKraft 21,04, 5) Igor Bodrov UKR 21,06, 6) Marek Niit EST 21,22, 7) Lauri Kirkkola TuUL 21,68, 8) Eetu Viitala TuUL 22,03.
M 300m: 1) Edino Steele JAM 32,32, 2) Ramon Miller BAH 32,40, 3) Ossi Linkoaho HKV 34,09, 4) Juho Vanhala HarjavJy 34,15, 5) Erik Back HIFK 34,75, Mario Forsythe JAM DNF, Igor Bodrov UKR DNF, Kind Butler USA DNS.
M 1500m: 1) Youness Essalhi MAR 3.40,46, 2) Krzysztof Zebrowski POL 3.40,87, 3) Ross Proudfoot CAN 3.42,34, 4) Diego Ruiz ESP 3.43,65, 5) Niclas Sandells IKFalken 3.44,88, 6) Ossi Kekki LahdA 3.47,50, 7) Panu Jantunen ParikkU 3.50,69, 8) Yuki Akimoto JPN 3.52,06, 9) Koki Maeda JPN 3.52,30, 10) Martti Siikaluoma KangKi 3.52,70, 11) Jarkko Järvenpää TampPy 3.55,85, 12) Masato Yokota JPN 4.08,17, Daniel Stockberger USA DNF, Willy Rotich KEN DNF.
M 3000m ej: 1) Jonathan Mui Ndiku KEN 8.25,08, 2) Alex Genest CAN 8.25,75, 3) Chris Winter CAN 8.33,13, 4) Andrew Poore USA 8.36,12, 5) Yousef Abdi AUS 8.37,34, 6) Jun Shioto JPN 8.43,84, 7) Aoi Matsumoto JPN 8.49,59, 8) Ruben Ramolefi RSA 8.54,56, 9) Taylor Milne CAN 8.56,23, 10) Aki Nummela HKV 9.01,78, 11) Takafumi Sueyama JPN 9.04,41, 12) Jimmy Finnholm IKFalken 9.17,72, 13) Eetu Lindfors KarhKa 9.27,66, 14) Rami Tuokko TuUL 9.28,32, 15) Aleksi Uusipere EspTa 9.33,49, 16) Hannu Granberg LahdA 9.38,54, 17) Francis Kirwa LahdA 9.53,59.
M 400m aj: 1) Jussi Heikkilä ViipU 52,00, 2) Petteri Monni JyväskKU 52,51, 3) Ossi Linkoaho HKV 53,41, 4) Juho Launto SauvU 53,76, 5) Otto Seppälä LammKo 54,01, 6) Aleksi Harju LahdA 54,93, 7) Lauri Hassi OrivPo 56,68.
M Pituus: 1) Zarck Visser RSA 8,09, 2) Ingnisious Gaisah NED 8,08, 3) Godfrey Mokoena RSA 8,06, 4) Roni Ollikainen HKV 7,62, 5) Eemeli Salomäki SomE 7,57, 6) Otto Kilpi NokU 7,33, 7) Juho-Matti Pimiä LappUM 7,14, Eero Haapala IkaalU NM.
M Keihäs: 1) Ari Mannio LehtimJy 82,01, 2) Teemu Wirkkala ToholU 80,35, 3) Gabriel Wallin SWE 77,71, 4) Sampo Lehtola LapinlVe 76,91, 5) Ivan Zaitsev UZB 76,80, 6) Joel Karjalainen KerimU 69,52, 7) Tuomas Laaksonen TuUL 68,18, 8) Sami Peltomäki AlajA 66,64.
N 100m: 1) Gloria Asumnu NGR 11,38, 2) Cleo van Buren USA 11,50, 3) Hanna-Maari Latvala JyväskKU 11,51, 4) Tiina Leppäkoski LahdA 11,75, 5) Minna Laukka JyväskKU 11,76, 6) Jenna Jokela NakkVire 11,82, 7) Jasmin Showlah HIFK 11,89, 8) Noora Hämäläinen JoensKa 12,00, 9) Jenni Jokinen NakkVire 12,13, 10) Milla Heiskanen IisVi 12,34, 11) Kaisa Nurme LahdA 12,40, 12) Jenna Pihkola LahdA 12,72.
N 800m: 1) Caster Semenya RSA 2.06,58, 2) Charlene Lipsey USA 2.06,96, 3) Rachel Aubry CAN 2.07,13, 4) Lorain Mckenzie JAM 2.07,72, 5) Ayako Jinnouchi JPN 2.07,75, 6) Chihiro Sunga JPN 2.08,36, 7) Kaisa Tyni HamPo 2.09,57, 8) Katriina Sonck NoormNo 2.12,06, 9) Eliisa Räsänen TampPy 2.13,57, Yana Aslanova RUS DNF, Ruriko Kubo JPN DNS.
N 3000m: 1) Perine Nengampi KEN 8.57,50, 2) Agnes Chesang KEN 9.14,14, 3) Jessica Furlan CAN 9.14,65, 4) Chantelle Groenwoud CAN 9.24,33, 5) Andrea Seccafien CAN 9.25,45, 6) Minna Lamminen HKV 9.33,21, 7) Vilma Laitinen TuUL 9.48,54, 8) Mira Tuominen ValkHa 10.00,36, 9) Saara Nikander LänsiUU 10.08,71, 10) Ilona Välimäki UudKK 10.09,34, 11) Tiia Taipale TuUL 10.13,48, 12) Henni Tofferi ViipU 10.32,95.
N 100m aj: (+1,5): 1) Yvette Lewis USA 12,67, 2) Loreal Smith USA 12,85, 3) Elisa Leinonen KajKi 13,27, 4) Nooralotta Neziri TuUL 13,39, 5) Matilda Bogdanoff HIFK 13,43, 6) Ida Aidanpää AavasU 13,68, 7) Viivi Avikainen MikkKV 13,82, Lotta Harala TampPy DNF.
N Korkeus: : 1) Lavern Spencer LCA 188, 2) Laura Rautanen VilppVei 184, 3) Linda Sandblom HangöIK 178, 4) Mari Sepänmaa AlavU 175, 5) Jonna Anias KristU 175, 6) Tiina Hakanen TampPy 175, 7) Ilona Äyräväinen KarhKa 170, 7) Viivi Voutilainen TuUL 170, Elina Smolander LapVi NH,
N Pituus: 1) Jaana Sieviläinen JoensKa 6,11, 2) Emmi Mäkinen JyväskKU 6,07, 3) Miia Kurppa SalVil 6,04, 4) Noora Pesola LahdA 6,04, 5) Marika Partinen JoensKa 5,84, 6) Sofia Sadeharju HKV 5,84, 7) Kristiina Vuovirta HKV 5,64, 8) Jutta Heinonen JanJa 5,54.
N Kolmiloikka: 1) Patricia Mamona POR 13,62, 2) Amanda Smock USA 13,52, 3) Elina Torro LappUM 13,18, 4) Essi Lindgren ViipU 13,00, 5) Laura Samuel GBR 12,84, 6) Liisa Naskali NokU 12,14.
(Source: © Sapa)
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