The South African 100m-hurdles-champion, Rikenette Steenkamp, raced to her fourth victory in Europe last night when she won in Gothenburg.
As has become the norm this season the wind again was a definite factor. The Tuks/HPC-athlete ran into a headwind of 1.2 meters per second winning in 13.14s at the Folksam Grand Prix-meeting. Norway’s Isabelle Pedersen who is a former youth and junior world champion was second in 13.20s. Pedersen’s season’s best time of 12.75s ranks her 19th on the IAAF-list. Karolina Koleczek (Poland) was third in 13.32s.
Steenkamp competed in five races in Europe winning four of them. The only time she did not win was in Ostrava, but that was her breakthrough race. The Tuks/HPC-athlete finished second in 12.99s dipping under 13 seconds for the first time.
Steenkamp rates last night’s race as one of her best performances.
“I am more than happy with the way my race played out. The weather conditions were cold and windy, and that does influence how you run. We have worked on a few things before the race. One of it was to be faster out of the blocks. It worked as I was off to a good start. The rest of my race was technically sound as well. I honestly think I had a better race than what my time indicates but then again I was not chasing a fast time I just wanted to win. It is a confidence booster knowing I am capable of beating athletes who have run sub 13 seconds times.”
Steenkamp will be returning to South Africa to prepare for the World Student Games in Taipei.
At the same meeting, Sibusiso Madikizela ran a time of 8:33.32 in the 3000m.
**Anaso Jobodwana won the 200m B-race in 20.77s at the Spitzen Leichtathletik in Luzern. In the 100m he ran a time of 10.41s. Henricho Bruintjies (Tuks) ran 10.46s.
Rynhardt van Rensburg was sixth in the 800m clocking 1:49.05; Antonio Alkana ran 13.34s in the 110m-hurdles to finish second.
In the 400m-hurdles Constant Pretorius (Tuks) ran a time of 50.58s in his race. LJ van Zyl (Tuks/HPC) ran 49.71s in the A-race and Le Roux Hamman (Tuks) 50.25s.
Dylan Cotter was sixth in the long jump with a best attempt of 6.90m.
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