06 Oct ALKANA OPENS EUROPEAN CAMPAIGN FOR SA ELITE
South African athletes made a quiet return to track and field season action,
with lone representative, Antonio Alkana, lining up at the Triveneto Meeting in Trieste, Italy.
While there were initially four SA athletes in the entry lists, Alkana was the only individual to
ultimately take part.
Alkana, the African record holder, crossed the line in fifth place in the men’s 110m hurdles race
in 13.79 seconds as he opened the nation’s top international campaign in European in the midst
of the global pandemic which has brought SA’s domestic activities to a complete standstill..
Olympic 400m champion and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk had also been scheduled
to compete, but was reportedly removed from the start lists as a precautionary measure after
allegedly first testing positive and then negative for Covid-19.
Long jumper Ruswahl Samaai, who had been in camp with Van Niekerk and Alkana in Gemona
for the last two weeks, was also missing from the results, and sprinter Danel Holton did not start
the women’s 400m heats.
