Caster Semenya lowered her 1500m national record, then reportedly dismissed questions about a new IAAF rule limiting female testosterone levels in her events.
“I don’t talk about nonsense,” the Olympic and world 800m champion said at the Diamond League opener in Doha on Friday, according to multiple reports, echoing her response to a similar question last August.
South Africa’s Olympic Committee said Semenya, whom track officials mandated undergo gender testing in 2009, is expected to be affected by the rule planned to go into effect Nov. 1. South Africa’s track and field federation has said it will see that the rule is challenged to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Semenya broke four minutes for the first time in the 1500m in the Qatar capital on Friday.
She moved from fifth to first in the last lap against a field that lacked any of the other top seven women from the 2016 Olympics or 2017 Worlds. Semenya earned 1500m bronze at last year’s worlds to complement her 800m title.
Full Doha meet results are here.
In other events, Kendra Harrison edged Brianna McNeal in a matchup of world-record holder and Olympic champion in the 100m hurdles. McNeal led early but clipped the eighth of 10 hurdles and ended up .05 behind Harrison, who clocked 12.53 seconds, well off her record of 12.20. It was McNeal’s first international meet since the Rio Games and a yearlong ban for missing three drug tests.
American Noah Lyles won the men’s 200m in a personal-best 19.83. Surprise world champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey was third in 20.11, and Olympic silver medalist Andre De Grasse of Canada was sixth in 20.46. Lyles, 20, won last season’s Diamond League final but missed worlds because he withdrew from the U.S. Championships with a hamstring strain.
Marie-Josee Ta Lou prevailed in the women’s 100m in a personal-best 10.85, the fastest time in the world this year. Jamaican Elaine Thompson, the Olympic champion, was third in 10.93, marking her second 100m loss since the start of 2016. World champion Tori Bowie of the U.S. was not in the Doha field.
World silver medalist Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas took the 400m in a national record 43.87 seconds. Only Michael Johnson has run faster this early in a year. The race lacked Olympic champion and world-record holder Wayde van Niekerk, who is coming back from an ACL tear.
Double Olympic champion Christian Taylor was outdueled by Portuguese rival Pedro Pablo Pichardo in the triple jump, 17.95 meters to 17.81.
Abderrahman Samba of Qatar took the men’s 400m hurdles in 47.57, the world’s fastest time in nearly eight years and the fastest time ever this early in a year. Olympic champion Kerron Clement was sixth in 50.19.
The Diamond League moves to Shanghai a week from Saturday, with Christian Coleman, Justin Gatlin and De Grasse expected to meet in the 100m.
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