The national 4x100m quartet will rerun their first-round heat after winning an appeal.
There was disappointment for javelin thrower Jo-Ane du Plessis but relief for the South African men’s 4x100m relay team at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Saturday.
Du Plessis, who earned an Olympic silver medal in Paris last year, ended fourth in the Japanese capital with a second-round throw of 63.06m in the final.
She fell 48 centimetres short of a place on the podium, with Juleisy Angulo of Ecuador winning gold with a best attempt of 65.12m.
“I think fourth is the worst position to finish in. I mean it’s so close to a medal and it could have been one, so I’m of course disappointed,” said Du Plessis, who set a season’s best.
“But last night (in the qualifying round) I wasn’t sure if I would make the final, so ending up fourth in the world is fantastic in the circumstances. My goal was to be in the top five and I’m very happy.”
Relay team to rerun their heat
And disappointment turned to relief for the national one-lap relay team after they won an appeal following the first-round heats.
The quartet – Shaun Maswanganyi, Sinesipho Dambile, Bradley Nkoana and Akani Simbine – did not finish the race but officials later determined that Italy had collided with South Africa at the first changeover.
It was decided that the SA team would rerun their heat in a time trial to be held at 3.33am (SA time) on Sunday morning.
They needed to run 38.34 seconds or quicker to qualify for the final to be held later on Sunday (2.20pm).
If they progressed, they would join the eight existing qualifiers and compete in lane one in the final.
In the men’s 4x400m relay heats, the SA quartet of Gardeo Isaacs, Udeme Okon, Leendert Koekemoer and Lythe Pillay won their heat in 2:58.81.
They automatically progressed to the final to be held at 1.25pm on Sunday.
