Caster Semenya runs huge personal best in her season opener
The double Olympic 800m champion breaks the nine-minute barrier in the 3,000m
Two-time 800m Olympic champion Caster Semenya returned to the track on Wednesday evening, clocking a personal best time of 8:54.97 over 3,000m on a windy night in Cape Town, South Africa. Semenya took nearly 10 seconds off her previous 3,000m best of 9:04.20, as she starts to prepare her qualification bid for World Championships later this year.
Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya won a 3,000m race in a personal best time of eight minutes and 54.97 seconds yesterday as she eyes qualifying for the 5,000m at the 2022 world championships. pic.twitter.com/ZY9RxZVDoU
— Geoffrey Mwamburi (@bekimwamburi) March 24, 2022
Although the race was only 3,000m, her time in the windy conditions suggests that she is targeting the world championship qualifying time of 15:10:00 in the women’s 5,000m.
Semenya was absent from the Tokyo Olympics last summer, as she was forced to compete outside of her 800 to 1,500m events after World Athletics introduced a rule blocking Semenya and other DSD athletes (who have higher-than-normal levels of testosterone) from competing in events from the 400m to the mile.
The rule gave DSD athletes two options: drop down to sprint races or jump up to 3,000m and above. The third option was for these athletes to take testosterone-reducing medication, but Semenya refused.
In 2020, Semenya chose to test her luck in the sprints, getting her 200m personal best down to 23.49 seconds, which was still far off the Olympic standard of 22.80. She then shifted gears to the 5,000m, which is the next-shortest race, next to the 3,000m steeplechase, for her and other DSD athletes to compete in. In 2021, she knocked her 5,000m personal best down to 15:32.1, which was still 20 seconds shy of the standard.
? Caster Semenya ?? won a 3⃣0⃣0⃣0⃣m race in a personal best time ⏱️, as she eyes ? qualifying for the 5⃣0⃣0⃣0⃣m at the 2⃣0⃣2⃣2⃣ world championships. ?️ pic.twitter.com/9RNPcb99mb
— 22Ours (@22Ours) March 24, 2022
Her 3,000m time of 8:54.97 is the sixth-fastest all-time in South Africa. The local crowd cheered the three-time world champion on during her final lap, encouraging Semenya to break the nine-minute mark.
Semenya has said to local reporters that her main focus is to compete at the African Games in June 2022.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
