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+---- Thread: Oosthuizen, Ramolefi head East (/Thread-Oosthuizen-Ramolefi-head-East)
Oosthuizen, Ramolefi head East - Newsroom - 12-05-2011
The International Athletics Season got underway very successfully for South Africa this past weekend when LJ Van Zyl and Cornel Fredericks went 1 and 2 in the 400m hurdles in Doha at the first IAAF Samsung Diamond League Meeting on Friday 6 May. In the process they took the scalp of Bershawn Jackson, 2005 World Champion and 2009 Bronze Medalist. Robert Oosthuizen finished 2nd in the Javelin. Rene Kalmer and Lusapho April set World Championship qualifying times when they finished 5th and 1st respectively in the Prague and Hannover Marathons on Sunday 8 May.
The season now moves East for the second IAAF Samsung Diamond League Meeting in Shanghai on Sunday 15 May; and moving East are South African 3000m Steeplechase Record Holder Ruben Ramolefi and Robert Oosthuizen.
Ramolefi came close to his own SA Record in Durban at the Yellow Pages SA Senior National Championships, clocking 8:14;06 to win the title for the 7th consecutive time. It was his second best ever time in the Steeplechase. Ramolefi will need to be at his though as he comes up against no less than 7 athletes who have gone faster than him, including Paul Kipsiele Koech who is the only athlete in the field to have gone under 8 minutes. The latest Olympic steeplechase champion to come out of Kenya, Brimin Kipruto, fastest man in the world last year, and fellow Kenyan, Beijing Olympic bronze and Berlin World silver medalist, Richard Mateelong are also in the field; and with 7 athletes under 8min10sec in the race, this could well be the chance for Ramolefi to better his own SA Record of 8.11; 63.
Another massive duel will be the menââ¬â¢s Javelin. Robert Oosthuizen claimed the scalps of the Olympic and World Champions Andreas Thorkildsen and Tero Pitkamaki in Doha a week ago, but the win went to Czech Republicââ¬â¢s Petr Frydrych with the second longest throw of the season (85.32m). The fact that Fydrych is coached by Jan Zelezny, the man whose World record Thorkildsen is chasing, adds an extra dimension to the clash. Oosthuizenââ¬â¢s 84.38m in Doha was his third best ever.
The meet is broadcast on Supersport 7 at 23h00 on Sunday, May 15.