Celebrity Gossip & Gist

South Africa’s Caster Semenya Breaks 1500m Commonwealth Games Record To Win Gold Medal

Published

6 years ago

April 10, 2018

South Africa’s Caster Semenya has taken almost four seconds off the 1500m Commonwealth Games record, as she won the gold medal at Carrara Stadium today
Semenya produced a personal-best time of 4:00.71 to shatter the previous best mark at the Commonwealth Games, finishing 2.38s ahead of silver medallist Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya.
Semenya’s margin of victory was all the more remarkable considering each of the top six in the race would have broken the previous Games record.
Five women broke their personal best in the high-quality field, including Wales’ Melissa Courtney, who produced a stunning performance to win the bronze medal ahead of Australian duo Linden Hall and Georgia Griffith.
Semenya’s gold continued a proud Games for South Africa on the track, following Akani Simbine’s 100m gold when he upstaged Jamaica’s favourite Yohan Blake on Monday.
Another African nation, Botswana, also denied Jamaica in the men’s 400m as the flamboyant Isaac Makwala blitzed the field with a quality time of 44.35sec. Makwala crossed the line with mouth agape and arms spread like an aeroplane, well clear of his compatriot Baboloki Thebe (45.09) and Jamaica’s Javon Francis in third.