Caster Semenya could pull off a surprise if her 1,500m rivals favour strategy over all-out speed
London — Caster Semenya sails into uncharted waters in the women’s 1,500m in London on Monday‚ going up against nine rivals who are faster than her over this distance. When it comes to the mile, she lacks the pedigree she possesses in her specialist 800m event‚ where she is on an unbeaten streak of 26 races dating back to late 2015. As a senior athlete she has competed over 1,500m on 21 occasions since 2009‚ with 13 wins. But here’s the kicker — she’s never had a triumph outside Africa‚ having competed in Europe on just three occasions‚ two of them these past few days in the heats and semifinals. Up against her is 1,500m Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya‚ whose 3min 56.41 personal best is more than five seconds better than Semenya’s 4min 01.99 career best. Defending champion and world record holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia appears to be a tad out of sorts‚ but there’ll also be strong challenges from Dutch flyer Sifan Hassan as well as Laura Muir‚ who will be buoyed by the h...
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