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Commonwealth Games champion Sinesipho Dambile will spearhead the South African challenge at the inaugural World Athletics ultimate championships in Budapest from Friday to Sunday.Dambile, the only South African to make the podium at the Diamond League Final in Brussels last weekend, will take to the track in Hungary alongside Gift Leotlela (men’s 100m), Akani Simbine (men’s 100m), Zakithi Nene (men’s 400m), Prudence Sekgodiso (women’s 800m) and Marioné Fourie (women’s 100m hurdles). Dambile, second in Belgium, is seeded second for the ultimate meet behind American Kenneth Bednarek. Sekgodiso, eighth in Brussels, is fourth in the women’s 800m, but dislodging one of the top three — Audrey Werro, Keely Hodgkinson and Femke Broeders-Bol — will be tough. Nene is fifth in the men’s 400m while Leotlela is 10th in the 100m and Simbine 11th. Fourie, who has competed only once since the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, is 14th. The ultimate world championships comprises small, elite fields, with 16 in most track events and eight for the field competitions. Fourie, Sekgodiso and Nene will compete in their semifinals on Friday, with the women’s 100m hurdles final later that night. The men’s 400m final is on Saturday, as well as the men’s 100m semifinals and final. Dambile will be the only South African in action on Sunday in the 200m semifinals and 200m final.
