Caster Semenya wins 800 at Paris Diamond League with personal best

South African Caster Semenya romped to the fourth-fastest women's 800 metres ever and Qatari Abderrahman Samba produced the second-best 400 metres hurdles of all time in a sparkling Paris Diamond League meet on Saturday.

• Ronnie Baker among many strong candidates trying to fill Usain Bolt's shoes

Olympic and world champion Semenya cruised home in a lifetime best 1:54.25 and the dominant Samba clocked 46.98 seconds for his fifth consecutive Diamond League win.

Caster Semenya runs 4th fastest women's 800m race

6 years ago

Duration 6:01

South African Caster Semenya romped to the fourth-fastest women's 800 metres ever at the Diamond League event in Paris.

American Ronnie Baker impressed in the 100, finishing with a personal-best 9.88 to edge France's Jimmy Vicaut by three one-hundredths of a second. China's Su Bingtian finished third.

American Ronnie Baker runs to 100m personal best in Paris

6 years ago

Duration 4:38

Baker ran a personal-best 9.88 to edge France's Jimmy Vicaut by three one-hundredths of a second at the Diamond League event in Paris.

Semenya, whose middle-distance running career could be under threat because of a new IAAF hyperandrogenism rule that she is challenging, took nearly a second off her personal best as she claimed her 25th consecutive final win in the event. Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba was second in 1:55.86.

"I did not expect that," Semenya, who ran without pacemakers, told reporters. "I was thinking 1:54.99 could be possible but this was great."

The IAAF rule, against which Semenya has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), would effectively give her a choice of taking medication to restrict her testosterone level or move to longer-distance events.

It is scheduled to become effective in November unless overturned by CAS.

"I am just a human and if you want to be an inspiration to the world and to the youth, you cannot focus on negative things," Semenya said.

Only Czech world record holder Jarmila Kratochvilova (1:53.28), Ukrainian Nadezhda Olizarenko (1:53.43) and Kenyan Pamela Jelimo (1:54.01) have run faster than the South African.

Samba sizzles in 400 hurdles

Samba became just the second runner to break 47 seconds in the 400 hurdles. The other was American world record holder Kevin Young, whose 46.78 won the 1992 Olympics.

"I made a small mistake at the start, lost my balance on the first hurdle so I did not expect to run so fast," said the 22-year-old, whose previous best was 47.41.

Canadian Shawn Barber finished fifth in the men's pole vault, topping out at 5.84 metres. Barber failed to clear 5.90 on three attempts, while American Sam Kendricks won the event by clearing 5.96.

Shawn Barber finishes 5th in pole vault

6 years ago

Duration 0:42

The Canadian and 2015 world champion topped out at 5.84 metres, as he missed all three attempts at 5,90 metres at the Diamond League event in Paris.

Fellow Canadian Geneviè​ve Lalonde placed 12th in the women's 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 9:40.34, well behind Kenyan winner Beatrice Chepkoech's 8:59.36.

Beatrice Chepkoech wins women's steeplechase at Diamond League Paris

6 years ago

Duration 13:07

Kenyans finished in the top four spots, with Chepkoech running the fastest time in the world this year. Canada's Genevieve Lalonde finished 12th.

Russian world champion Mariya Lasitskene also continued her dominance, winning her 45th consecutive high-jump competition with a sparkling season's best of 2.04 metres.