National 400-metre hurdle champion Cornel Fredericks was named Athlete of the Meeting at the 61st Cork City Sports athletics meeting in Ireland on Wednesday evening.
In his last race before the Olympic Games, Fredericks beat Jamaican national champion Leford Green in cool and windy conditions in the men’s hurdles. The 22-year-old, training out of his French base in recent months, crossed the line in 49.00 seconds with Green just behind him, in 49.10sec. Josef Robertson (Jam) finished third in 50.18sec
Ofentse Mogawane, who has been selected in the 4x400m relay team for the Olympic Games, competed in his first 200m race of the season where he finished second in the B-race, clocking 21.98sec. Mogawane finished behind Ireland’s David Hynes (21.43sec). In the men’s 400m, Mogawane finished eighth in his race, in 47.39sec. The winning time was 45.30sec by Rabah Yousif from Sudan.
South Africa’s Juan van Deventer, 2008 Olympic 1500m finalist, finished 10th in the men’s 3000m race, crossing the line in 8:12.85. Australia’s Collis Birmingham won the race in 7:55.31.
SA long jump Champion Zarck Visser ended fourth with a best of 7.50m in the opening round of the men’s long jump. Povilas Mykolaitis (LTU) won with 7.80m followed by Yohei Sugai (JPN) and Matthew Burton (GBR). Sugai’s best was measured at 7.64m while Burton’s 7.62m placed in the top 3. Conditions were not ideal with the wind in the long jump reaching speeds of up to 2.9m/sec from behind.