South Africa’s double Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya finished just sixth in the 5 000m at the African championships on Thursday, missing the qualifying time for next month’s world champs in Eugene.
In her first international race for South Africa since the 2018 Commonwealth Games where she won the 800 and 1 500m, Semenya clocked 16min 03.24sec, well off the 15:10.00 mark required for selection for the Eugene worlds.
Semenya has just five weeks before the 15-24 July worlds in which to try to get the qualifying time. Her personal best is 15:31.50, set in April this year.
