Prudence Sekgodiso wins again, but her world lead gets surpassed in US

Prudence Sekgodiso notched another international victory abroad on Saturday, winning the 800m at the Stanislas meeting at Nancy in north-eastern France in 1min 59.63sec.

She was the only competitor to go under two minutes, finishing ahead of Italian Eloisa Coiro, a 2021 European under-23 bronze medallist, in 2:00.18 and Spaniard Lorea Ibarzabal in 2:00.40.

Sekgodiso, who hasn’t run slower than 1:59.93 so far this season, saw her 1:57.26 world lead from the Diamond League meet in Marrakech last weekend beaten by two runners at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday.

England’s Keely Hodgkinson, the silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics and runner-up at the last two world championships, won in 1:55.78, ahead of Kenya’s reigning world champion, Mary Moraa, in 1:56.71.

Sekgodiso’s week-old personal best ranks her third on the world list for 2024. 

Two members of the South African men’s 4x400m team that won silver at the World Relays in Bahamas earlier this month were also in action in Nancy.

Zakithi Nene ended second in the 400m in 45.63, with Gardeo Isaacs sixth in 46.19.

In the men’s 100m Tsebo Matsoso was fifth in 10.51.

Cheswill Johnson ended sixth in the men’s long jump on 7.67 and Tshepo Tshite was 12th in the men’s 1,500m, crossing the line in 3:38.23, 1.73sec behind local winner Jimmy Gressier.