But now, with the Olympic gold and Diamond Trophy wrapped up for the season, Semenya will make her worldwide 400m debut on Friday at the AG Insurance Memorial Van Damme event in Belgium, according to the Diamond League website.
Advertisement
It’s been a dream few months, but Semenya took to Facebook this week to express her feelings about the fact that the most memorable season of her career is coming to an end when she lines up in the 400m at the Memorial van Damme meet at the Boudewijn Stadium on Friday night at 8.22pm South African time.
“In Rio I was so close to something I really wanted, but today I did more than expected”, Morris said in an interview with teamusa.org. Only three women in history have done it, if you count outdoor and indoor, and I’m one of them.
After clearing 5 meter my coach suggested to stop the event but I absolutely wanted to jump even if I was exhausted, even I knew it was too high for Today but attempting the world record will help me for next season. The competition didn’t start well for Morris as she needed two attempts to get over her opening height of 4.52m but then was flawless at 4.58 and 4.64.
Her rival Dafne Schipper (Netherland), 10.97 was second with another young Jamaican, Christania Williams, the Olympic finalist, taking third in 11.09 in +0.6 wind.
But she failed at three attempts at 5.07m, 1cm further than Isinbayeva’s world record.
The 25-year-old has focused on the two-lap 800m event for most of her career, and recently began to consider competing in other events such as the 400m and 1,500m races.
Schippers finished well behind in 10.97 and after her habitual slow start never looked close to closing the gap on Thompson.
The men’s 800 at 3:45 p.m. ET features Kenya’s Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich, who finished fifth in Rio and has a narrow six-point lead over France’s Pierre-Ambroise Bosse.
The Jamaican won the 100 and 200 at the Rio Games while Schippers finished 5th in the 100 and was runner-up in the 200. The women’s non-Diamond League event saw Olympic heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam secure success in front of home fans as she cleared 1.93m for the win, while the Borlee brothers were beaten by Dominican Republic’s Luguelin Santos as he ran 45.02 ahead of Jonathan, Dylan and Kevin.
Olympic semifinalist Wenda Nel finished sixth in the women’s 400m hurdles race in 55.41, more than a full second outside her personal best, looking tired at the back end of a long season.
The team moved up to gold this year after a Russian runner was caught doping in a retest.
Advertisement
Seven of the 17-strong field set personal bests while the USA’s Shannon Rowbury set an American continental record.
