Ajee Wilson knew one thing as she raced around the final bend of the women’s 800m in London on Sunday night — Caster Semenya was coming for her.
The South African’s kick over the final 200m has been lethal in the two-lap race‚ ensuring she’s gone unbeaten in 29 races on the trot since late 2015.
And it was no different at the world championships; the Semenya steam train sailed past the American and eventual silver medallist Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi on the home straight.
“I was kind of thinking when she was going to make her move‚” said Wilson‚ a former world champion at under-18 and under-20 levels.
“[I thought] ‘I know she’s coming soon‚ so let me try and hang there for as long as I can’. I got a medal so I’m happy with that.”
Wilson‚ who ended third ahead of Olympic bronze medallist Margaret Wambui of Kenya‚ said the plan was to go out hard and hang on for as long as possible.
“My coach just told me to get out‚ we’ve been practising finishing hard.
“She always comes hard on the last phase so just coming down that last stretch I was thinking about that‚ what we worked on in practice‚ trying to finish hard.”
Semenya won gold in a 1min 55.16sec South African record‚ with Niyonsaba‚ also the Olympic silver medallist‚ second in 1:55.92 and Wilson third in 1:56.65. - TimesLIVE
Source: TMG Digital.
