World Indoor 3000m
Elroy Gelant broke the SA Indoor Record in the men’s 3000m at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey on 9-11 March. Gelant finished 12th in the final but broke Juan van Deventer’s SA Indoor record of 7:49.91 (Moskva, 7 February 2010) when he crossed the line in 7:48.64.
Bernard Lagat (USA) won the event in 7:41.44 while Kenyan runners Augustine Kiprono Choge and Edwin Ceruivot Soi finished 2nd and 3rd, crossing the line in 7:41.77 and 7:41.78 respectively.
Gelant will compete at the CAA Africa Cross Country Championships on Sunday, 18 March in Cape Town after having won the SA Cross Country Trials in Potchefstroom on 18 February.
On Saturday, 10 March, Lehann Fourie finished 2nd in the heats of the 60m hurdles (7.67sec), easily qualifying for the next round. He then competed in the semi-final on Sunday morning where he proceeded to the final after a 7.65sec finish (3rd in Semi-final). Fourie finished 7th in 7.69sec behind the Italian Emanuele Abate (7.63sec). Aries Merritt (USA) won the race in 7.44sec while Xiang Liu (CHN) finished just behind him in 7.49sec. France’s Pascal Martino-Lagarde came third (7.53sec).
Burger Lambrechts was another South African contender at the championships but failed to qualify for the final in the men’s shot put after finishing 17th on Friday 9 March. Lambrecht strained the middle finger on his throwing hand on Thursday after falling, but decided to compete. His 18.96m was not good enough to proceed to the next round. Lambrechts spoke about his disappointment regarding his performance and about the different circumstances in indoor and outdoor competitions. “I did not have any exposure to the faster indoor circles and the smooth weights that are used at Indoor events. From here on I will have to go back to the drawing board and prepare for bigger results on ‘normal’ circles with ‘normal’ weights.
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