Caster Semenya continued her record-breaking season on Sunday by improving her South African 1 000m mark at an IAAF World Challenge meeting in Berlin.
She chopped 0.31 seconds off the previous time she set in Rabat in July, clocking a new meeting record of two minutes, 30.70 seconds (2:30.70).
The 800m Olympic champion moved into fifth place on the 1 000m world all-time list.
She finished four seconds ahead of her nearest rival Halima Nakaayi of Uganda, who ended in second place with 2:34.88.
“It was a great race, a little bit tiring, as I was leading the whole field. But I am happy about the time,” Semenya said.
“It is not only about running fast, it is about feeling your body, and we have done what we could.
“The crowd was fantastic, it was great being invited to the ISTAF, this meeting and the stadium are amazing.”
Semenya has had a busy season racing at a high level since February, showing incredible range by lining up over the 400m, 800m, 1 000m and 1 500m distances.
She won her third consecutive overall Diamond League 800m title last Thursday, and will have one final hurrah for the season at the Continental Cup in Ostrava next weekend.
Semenya added the SA 1 000m record to her long list of accolades for the first time earlier this season when she knocked nearly two seconds off the mark Ilze Wicksell set in 1983.
She shaved another four seconds off that time at the Rabat Diamond League meeting, edging her closer to Russian Svetlana Masterkova’s 2:28.98 global mark from 1996.
The three-time world champion has not lost an 800m race since September 2015, when she finished eighth in Berlin.
She will be looking to keep her three-year unbeaten two-lap record intact in Ostrava, where she is expected to represent the African team in both the 400m and the 800m.
— ISTAF Berlin (@ISTAF_Berlin) September 2, 2018
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