Team SA keep medal hopes alive on the track

Team South Africa have kept their medal hopes alive on the track at the Paris Olympic Games. Marione Fourie qualified in first place in her heat in the first round of the women’s 100 meters hurdles repacharge.

Competing in heat one, she led from start to finish, clocking a time of 12.79 seconds. The men’s 4 X 100 meters relay team qualified for the final, finishing in second place behind the United States in the first heat.

Racing in lane 4, the South African quartet of Bayanda Walaza, Shaun Maswanganyi, Bradley Nkoana and Akani Simbine recorded a season’s best time of 37.94 seconds.

They qualified for Friday’s final just behind the winners, the United States and ahead of Great Britain who finished in third place.

“I’m just really happy with qualifying for the next round right now we are a really in good position for tomorrow so looking forward to racing today. It was just about qualifying, and we did that and tomorrow we need to clean up everything and make sure we have a good baton exchange throughout these exchanges and get the job done,” says Simbine.

Diver Julia Vincent also kept her medal hopes alive. She qualified for the final in the women’s 3 meters springboard event. She performed an inward 2 and a held somersault from the pike position, finishing in sixth place with a total score of 297.30.

Golfer Ashleigh Buhai is still in contention in the women’s individual stroke play tournament. Buhai didn’t make the best of starts in round two, opening with a triple bogey on the first hole and a bogey on the par four fourth hole.

She picked four up strokes however, including back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth holes, turning in 35. The South African made two double bogeys and another bogey on the 14th hole saw her drop further back.

Buhai closed out her round with three straight pars to sign for a 76, ending the day on three-under overall, five strokes adrift of the leader Morgane Metraux of Switzerland who is on eight-under for the tournament.

However, climber Lauren Mukheibir failed to qualify for the final of the women’s lead and boulder event.

She finished in last place in her semi-final, with a score of 4.4 in the lead category after losing her balance.