E-Paper
Fit-again Semenya vows to train more
South African world champion Caster Semenya says she wants to train harder before the next step on her comeback trail after an 11-month absence caused by a gender controversy.
South African world champion Caster Semenya says she wants to train harder before the next step on her comeback trail after an 11-month absence caused by a gender controversy.
Semenya crowned her comeback week Helsinki on Sunday with an easy victory in the 800m, clocking 2min 02.42sec in her favoured event at the Lapinlahti meet.
That was almost two seconds faster than the time she set in her first outing since her lengthy break three days earlier.
The 19-year-old champion said: "I am very pleased with my performance. I got what I was looking for, but next time I want to run the first 600m faster, in 1:28 or 1:29.
"This wasn't easier than in Lappeenranta (last Thursday), as I had to push hard to the wind in the second lap.
A smiling Semenya completed a lap of honour after her win, knowing the hard work still lies ahead with Sunday's time a long way off her world title winning run of 1min 55.45sec in Berlin in 2009.
She added: "I don't know where my next race will take place. Now I'll fly back home and start to train harder."
