South Africa’s Caster Semenya brought her glittering season to an end Sunday by smashing the world record in the rarely-run 600 meters.
The 26-year-old, Olympic gold medallist and three times world champion over 800 meters clocked a stunning 1min 21.77seconds over the unusual distance at the ISTAF meet in the German capital.
She took 0.86seconds off the previous best set by Cuba’s Ana Fidelia Quirot in 1997.
Semenya has been dogged by gender accusations since shooting to fame at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium when she won the 800meter title as a teenager at the 2009 world championships.
In London earlier this month, the South African track ace won the world title over 800meter for the third time following on from her 2009 and 2011 triumphs, but failed in an ambitious double bid, having to be content with just bronze in the 1500meter.
Semenya said she was delighted to end her season in the German capital where she won world gold eight years ago.
