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South African surprise in men’s 400m

BEIJING — Wayde van Niekerk won his first International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) world championship title in the 400m yesterday at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, holding off defending champion LaShawn Merritt and Olympic gold medallist Kirani James.

Van Niekerk (centre) beat Olympic gold medallist Kirani James (right). Liguelin Santos (left) came fourth. Photo: Getty Images

Van Niekerk (centre) beat Olympic gold medallist Kirani James (right). Liguelin Santos (left) came fourth. Photo: Getty Images

BEIJING — Wayde van Niekerk won his first International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) world championship title in the 400m yesterday at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, holding off defending champion LaShawn Merritt and Olympic gold medallist Kirani James.

The 23-year-old South African went out hard and held on to win in 43.48s. Merritt took silver in a personal best of 43.65 and James finished third in a season-best 43.78.

The fifth day of the IAAF competition also saw Singapore’s Shanti Pereira making her debut on the prestigious world stage in the preliminaries of the women’s 200m event. Running in heat 5 with defending champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, of Jamaica, the 18-year-old finished the race in a time of 24.22s, 0.62 off her SEA Games gold triumph in Singapore two months ago.

In the 400m hurdles finals, Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnova became the first woman to successfully defend her title after 14 editions of the world championships.

She produced a dominating and controlled performance to come home 2m clear of Shamier Little, the United States champion, in a world-leading 53.50. Little, 20, took silver on her world debut in 53.94, with her team-mate Cassandra Tate winning bronze with 54.02.

But the day’s events were marred by the world body handing out provisional bans on Kenya’s Koki Manunga and Joyce Zakary for failing doping tests at the ongoing championships. The runners from a nation famed for its middle and long-distance runners were targeted in pre-competition tests at their team hotel in Beijing on Aug 20 and 21, the IAAF said in a statement. Zakary, 29, ran a Kenyan record of 50.71 in the heat of the 400m in Beijing but failed to start the semi-final.

At Kenya’s national championships last month, Zakary had wowed athletics fans when she broke a 31-year-old national record held by compatriot Rose Waithera since the 1984 Olympics. Manunga, 21, finished sixth in her heat in the 400 hurdles last Sunday and failed to progress to the next round. Their bans come in the wake of the IAAF defending itself in the last month against accusations that it is soft on doping after data from thousands of blood samples were leaked to the media.

But there was some relief for Kenya, with Julius Yego continuing his country’s dominance of the world championships by winning their fifth gold medal with a monster 92.72m throw in a dramatic men’s javelin final.

It is the first time that Kenya, a nation noted for its distance-running prowess, has won a world title in a field event, and Yego’s victory comes a day after Nicholas Bett won the 400m hurdles title, the shortest distance over which any Kenyan has become a world champion.

In an event which has long been a European stranglehold, there was a one-two for Africa, as Egypt’s Ihab El Sayed took the silver medal with his 88.99m second-round effort. Finland’s Tero Pitkamaki maintained European pride by taking bronze with his 87.64m best effort. AGENCIES

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