Caster dictating on her own terms
South African 800 metre athlete Caster Semenya is dictating the course of the event on her own terms at the Rio Olympics and is well on course for gold in tomorrow's (Saturday) final.
The women's 800 metre semi-finals were interspersed between the javelin competition, with Caster Semenya receiving one of the warmer welcomes intro the arena for the third and last semi-final heat.
The 25 year old started in her now traditional fashion, taking third place at the 200 m mark and dropped to as low as fifth at the 400, before making her move with 280 m to go, increasing momentum, coming around the final bend in the lead.
An easy acceleration to the 60 m mark kept control of the race ahead of Scot Lynsey Sharp, to finish in 1:58.15, the fastest time of the day. Sharp finished as second automatic qualifier in 1:58.56.
The progression over the last 150 metres was almost as if the Potchestroom based athlete wanted to pull others with her, and not surprisingly provided the two fastest losers, Kate Grace (USA) and Marina Arzamasova (BLR) to the final
“That was ok, obviously the main thing was to get through to the final,” said Semenya, who now has two days recovery.
“There are no strategies, I will just go with the flow, see how I feel in the race, and the pace was a bit quicker, I wasn't expecting that pace," she added.
“As I said I’m not going to focus on the world record. Remember I just ran my PB a month ago. The focus is to enjoy the championship and go back home with the gold medal. But that thing (the record) is still at the back of my mind so I’m just looking forward to a final, so I need to go back and check my videos so I can run a better race in the final.”
Semenya goes into Saturday’s final as the overwhelming favourite with a personal and seasons best of 1:55.33, with Francie Niyonsaba, who has a best of 1:56.24, her closest rival on paper.
Keeping in mind
that Semenya decided not to contest the 400 or 1500 m, but to focus on the 800,
there seems a good chance she could have the energy to make it a very special
night to break the 33-year-old record.
Against that is her decision to keep a low profile, which has seen her walk through the media mixed zone without giving any interviews and perhaps she will opt to leave the record attempt to a quieter venue later in the year.