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Athletics | SA Track & Field

Lehann Fourie © Reuters Images

Fourie sets new SA record



South Africa's high hurdles ace Lehann Fourie broke Shaun Bownes' 11-year-old 110 metres hurdles record at the final Diamond League meeting of the year in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday.

Fourie, a London Olympic finalist, finished the race in a time of 13.24 seconds to better Bownes' record by 0.02 seconds.

The 25-year-old has threatened to break the record since the semifinal of last month's Olympic Games in the English capital.

He missed the record by 0.02 seconds in the semifinals, with a personal best time of 13.28 seconds, to book his place in the final. In the final later that night he could not repeat the performance, finishing seventh in 13.53.

Olympic gold medallist Aries Merritt won the race setting a new world record clocking 12.80, shaving 0.07 seconds off the previous record.

Fellow American countryman and Olympic silver medallist Jason Richardson finished second with a time of 13.05 with Hansle Parchment taking third in 13.14.

Meanwhile, South Africa's javelin ace, Sunette Viljoen, finished second behind Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic, with a best heave of 65.33 metres.

Spotakova won with a distance of 66.91. Vira Rebryk of the Ukraine finished behind Viljoen with a throw of 64.52.

Viljoen was in third place behind the Ukrainian, until her last throw of the evening.

Earlier, Khotso Mokoena clinched third place in the men's long jump with a best leap of 8.03m.

Russia's Alexandr Menkov finished in first place, with a leap of 8.29 with his compatriot Sergey Morguv taking the second spot with a distance of 8.04.



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