Cape Town - She lost her South African 100m title last month, but Carina Horn proved that she is still the fastest woman in the country with a season’s best time in Austria on Thursday.
Running in the Liese Prokop Memorial meeting in St Polten, Horn twice ran times of 11.18 seconds in the heat and final to record her best time in 2016.
The 27-year-old went quicker than Polish youngster Ewa Swoboda, the world junior record holder in the 60m indoors, in the heats as she ran 11.18 compared to Swoboda’s 11.32.
But in the final about 90 minutes later, it was Swoboda who went all the way with Horn to the finish line. Initially the electronic timing showed that the 18-year-old had won in the same time as Horn - which was a new personal best for Swoboda - but later the South African was placed first in 11.18.
Horn has improved her season’s best by 0.05 of a second after her previous mark of 11.23, which was set at Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria in March. She ran 11.28 in a Diamond League event in Rabat on Sunday, so she will be delighted to have improved by a tenth of a second in just four days.
The victory and time in St Polten was just the boost Horn needed after losing her SA title to Alyssa Conley - who won in 11.36 in Stellenbosch in April, with Horn second in 11.37.
Horn told Independent Media last week that she was hoping to gain entry to upcoming Diamond League meets in Rome (June 2) and Birmingham (June 5), where she could be in a better position to break the SA record of 11.06 she currently shares with Evette de Klerk.
Meanwhile, SA long jump champion Ruswahl Samaai finished second in the unique Golden Roof Challenge in Innsbruck, Austria on Wednesday.
Samaai, who recorded the second-best distance in the world last Sunday at the Diamond League meet in Rabat with an 8.38m leap, jumped 7.95m, with German Markus Rehm winning in 8.18m.
But there was some joy for South Africa as national champion Lynique Prinsloo won the women’s long jump in 6.37m.
The Golden Roof Challenge sees pole vault and long jump athletes compete on a street in front of the landmark golden roof (Goldenes Dachl) in the Old Town part of Innsbruck, with a single-lane mobile track laid down for long jumpers and pole-vaulters to run on, with spectators lined up right down the sides of the lane.