Wayde van Niekerk looks on after finishing joint-seventh in the 200m semi-finals on Wednesday night. Photo: Reuters
IT WAS a difficult night for Wayde van Niekerk and Shaun Maswanganyi on the track, but Jo-Ané van Dyk will hope to follow in South African javelin legend Sunette Viljoen-Louw’s footsteps after qualifying for the Olympic final to be held on Saturday in Paris.
Viljoen-Louw won the silver medal at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and still holds the African record of 69.35m.
Van Dyk, who is the current African champion, was in imperious form on Wednesday when she launched the javelin into the Parisian sky for a career-best 64.22m to automatically qualify for the final.
The 26-year-old’s effort topped Group A and was the fourth-best overall on the day.
She was visibly excited by her effort as she gave off a shriek of delight and two thumbs-up to the cameras after her throw.
Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Maria Andrejczyk of Poland (65.52m), 2016 Olympic champion Sara Kolak of Croatia (64.57m) and Colombia’s world championship silver medallist Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado (64.40m) were ahead of her.
Van Dyk was the first South African field athlete to advance beyond the qualifying round, which inspired men’s high-jumper Brian Raats to follow suit.
Raats produced a best jump of 2.24m, at his first attempt at the height, to qualify for the final.
Edmund du Plessis also comfortably qualified for the men’s 800m semi-finals with a time of 1:45.73.
World 400m record holder Van Niekerk and Maswanganyi, however, both failed to advance from their 200m semi-finals on Wednesday night.
Van Niekerk tied for seventh in his semi-final in a time of 20.72 seconds, while Maswanganyi was left exasperated on the Stade de France track after crossing the line in fourth place in 20.42 in his race.
Maswanganyi stayed with the leaders coming off the bend and heading into the home straight, but just did not have the extra burst of speed to take it home.
He had run a quicker time in his heat on Monday with a 20.20 effort.
Africa will, though, have strong representation in the 200m final through Zimbabwean duo Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba, Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo and Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh.
Tebogo was the quickest in a time of 19.96, edging out American 100m Olympic champion Noah Lyles to second place in his heat. Charamba was third in 20.31.
Reigning Olympic 200m champion Andre de Grasse of Canada also failed to make it into the final.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, SA national record holder Marioné Fourie was not at her best, finishing fourth in her heat in 12.91 seconds, with her 21st place relegating her to the repechage stage.
Miranda Coetzee was also not able to advance to the 400m women’s final on Wednesday night after finishing last in her semi-final with a time of 51.60.