Caster Semenya breaks four minutes for 1500m at IAAF Meet, 30 seconds slower than men

Caster Semenya and Carina Horn struck a blow for South African female athletics when they both breached magical barriers at Friday evening’s Diamond League meeting in Doha. The opening meeting of the 2018 Diamond League series saw Semenya break through four minutes in the 1500m while Horn became the first South African female to dip below 11 seconds in the 100 metres. Semenya stuck it to the IAAF on Friday night when she smashed the South African record she set at the Commonwealth Games last month by clocking a 3:59.92. Semenya could be affected by the new controversial female classification rules the IAAF introduced on April 26 and will go into effect on November 1. The amended regulations will attempt to regulate women who naturally produce testosterone levels above five nanomoles per litre and are limited to athletes that compete in events ranging from the 400m to the mile.  (The men’s world record for 1500m is held by Hicham El Guerrouj of 3:26.00 in Rome in 1998.)

posted Tuesday May 8th