# Athletics: Jo-Ane du Plessis produced the best performance by the South African team thus far at the World Athletics Championships, finishing fourth in the women’s javelin throw final in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday. Turning out on the penultimate day of competition, Du Plessis landed the javelin at 63.06 metres with her second-round attempt.
There was immense relief for the South African men’s 4×100-metre relay team after winning an appeal in the first-round heats. Though they did not finish the race, it was decided by officials that South Africa had a genuine case after an incident against Italy at the first changeover. The national quartet of Shaun Maswanganyi, Sinesipho Dambile, Bradley Nkoana, and Akani Simbine had a re-run of their race in a solo time trial early this morning, but they couldn’t beat the qualifying time and will not be in the final later today.
In the men’s 4×400-metre relay heats, the SA quartet of Gardeo Isaacs, Udeme Okon, Leendert Koekemoe,r and Lythe Pillay won their heat in 2 minutes 58.81 seconds. They automatically progressed to the final this afternoon.