Prudence Sekgodiso clocks personal best as she wins 800m at Golden Spike

World indoor champion Prudence Sekgodiso improved her personal best as she won the women’s 800m at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on Tuesday night.

Sekgodiso led from the start, not counting the two pacemakers, to win in 1 min 57.16 sec, a meet record that was 0.1 sec lower than her pervious best from last year.

The South African middle distance queen was in control after the second pacemaker dropped out on the back straight and never looked in trouble as she stayed comfortably in front of training partner Oratile Nowe of Botswana and Nigist Getachew of Ethiopia, runner-up at the world indoor championships.

Nowe overhauled Getachew in the sprint for the line to take second place in a 1:57.49 national record. The East African was third in 1:58.02.

Douw Smit finished second in the men’s javelin, hitting an 84.12m best to finish behind India’s multiple Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra on 85.29.

His effort in the second round gave him the lead until Chopra surpassed that in the third round.

Smit also had the satisfaction of clearing 80m on three other throws. 

Tshepo Tshite, fresh from his 3:31.35 SA 1,500m record in Paris on Friday night, ended ninth in 3:34.14.