Caster Semenya will again attempt the 800
metres and 1500m double at next year’s
Commonwealth Games, before setting her sights
on a world record.
The 26-year-old South African won gold in the
shorter distance and a surprise bronze in the
1500m at the World Championship in London in
August.
“I will again be going for the double, but I need
to improve on my tactics (for the 1500m),” she
told reporters.
“The 1500m is a race that excites me. I look
forward to racing it.”
Her coach Jean Verster said the 800m world
record would be a priority for Semenya after the
April Games at the Gold Coast in Australia.
“We will be gunning for that in the next season.
“I think she can probably break it already, but
we’ve got to find the right race because you
don’t want to put all your cards on the table and
then get beaten,” he told South Africa’s
Independent Newspapers.
Semenya won the 800m in London in one minute
55.16 seconds, the fastest time in the event
since 2008.
“I believe a time of 1:52 is possible. It is just a
matter of getting in the right race with the right
pacemaker,” said Verster.
The world record of 1:53.28 is now almost 35
years old and was set by Czech Jarmila
Kratochvilova in Munich in July 1983.
