Semenya sweeps 800 and 1,500, with Cheptegei doubling in 5,000 and 10,000; Johnson-Thompson follows World Indoor pentathlon crown with heptathlon victory

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Katarina Johnson-Thompson secured her second gold medal in two months.

South Africa’s Caster Semenya and Uganda’s Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei both collected their second Commonwealth Games championships in less than a week Friday at Carrara Stadium in Gold Coast, Australia.

Semenya became the third female athlete in Commonwealth Games history to sweep the 800 and 1,500 meters in the same meet, with Cheptegei the first male athlete to double in the 5,000 and 10,000 since fellow countryman Moses Ndiema Kipsiro in 2010.

Johnson-Thompson, who won the pentathlon March 2 at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, battled through a sore right calf throughout the heptathlon to accumulate 6,255 points, falling to the track in tears after completing the 800 in 2 minutes, 21.24 seconds to clinch the gold.

“It was the emotion and the pain,” Johnson-Thompson told The Guardian. “I just managed it and got through it. I thought it was under control until 300 meters into the 800, I felt it worsen. I thought about stopping and just carried on.”

Johnson-Thompson, who won the high jump, long jump and 200 during the two-day competition to become the fifth British athlete to capture the Commonwealth Games heptathlon gold, will look to challenge reigning IAAF World Outdoor champion Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium at the European Outdoor Championships in Berlin in August in search of a third gold medal this year.

“My aim this year was to build a winning habit,” Johnson-Thompson told The Guardian. “I’m two-thirds of the way there. The treble is a big ask. I said that I wanted to win two golds, I’ve done that. I want to win three medals.

“It’s all coming together and the more I compete, the more I expose myself to things like this, the more I learn.”

The learning curve accelerated in a big way for Kansas State sophomore Nina Schultz, who improved on her Canadian U20 record to amass 6,133 points and the silver medal, capped by a 2:17.40 in the 800.

Schultz, 19, led a group of three teenagers behind Johnson-Thompson, along with fellow British talent Niamh Emerson, who won the 800 in 2:12.18 to surpass fellow 18-year-old Celeste Mucci of Australia for the bronze medal. Emerson finished with 6,043 points and Mucci, who ran 2:29.73 in the 800, improved on her Australian U20 record to place fourth with 5,915 points.

Semenya not only prevailed in the women’s 800 in 1:56.68, she lowered the 2002 meet record of 1:57.35 set by Mozambique’s Maria Mutola to complete the sweep after producing a South African 1,500 record Tuesday by running 4:00.71.

“For these four years, the target has been to double at each and every championship,” Semenya told ESPN. “I believe I can still do better in the future. I am still only 27 and when I do my long runs, I feel I can feed into distance running.”

Kenya’s Margaret Wambui took silver in 1:58.07 and Jamaica’s Natoya Goule earned bronze in 1:58.82, with Semenya joining Kenya’s Nancy Langat in 2010 and Wales’ Kirsty Wade in 1986 in achieving the 800-1,500 double.

Although she missed qualifying for the final, 16-year-old Australian Keely Small ran 2:00.81 in Thursday’s prelims to elevate to the No. 9 World U18 performer in history. Small ran the fastest 800 time for a World U18 female athlete since 2013.

After a close battle Sunday in the 5,000 with Mo Ahmed, Cheptegei got the better of the Canadian standout again in the 10,000, running a meet-record 27:19.62. Ahmed secured his second silver of the meet, clocking 27:20.56, as the race produced the top seven times in the world this year.

Canada did capture a gold medal in the women’s pole vault, with Alysha Newman equaling her national record with a 15-7 (4.75m) clearance. Newman was tied with New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney, but after two misses at 15-5 (4.70m), she passed to 15-7 and cleared the bar to match the No. 2 performer in the world this year.

Newman had previously cleared 15-7 twice in the span of six days at meets in August and September in Germany and Belgium.

Conseslus Kipruto, the reigning Olympic and World champion in the men’s 3,000 steeplechase, set a meet record by clocking 8:10.08 to prevail in a race that posted the top five times in the world this year.

Kipruto’s title was the eighth in a row at the Commonwealth Games for Kenya, which has swept the men’s podium at the meet’s past six editions.

Jamaica’s Fedrick Dacres set the meet record in the men’s discus with a third-round throw of 223-9 (68.20m). Dacres improved on his own Jamaican national record Feb. 10 in Kingston with a world-leading effort of 229-1 (69.83m).