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Du Toit and Buis Take Gold In London

Mike Finch |
IPC World ParaAthletics Championships 2017 London – Day Five
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 18: Charl Du Toit of South Africa competes in the Men's 200m T37 Final during Day Five of the IPC World ParaAthletics Championships 2017 London at London Stadium on July 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

South Africa waited four days to strike gold, and then got two in the space of 20 minutes at the IPC Athletics World Championships in London on Tuesday. By Mark Etheridge, SASCOC

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 18: Charl Du Toit of South Africa competes in the Men's 200m T37 Final during Day Five of the IPC World ParaAthletics Championships 2017 London at London Stadium on July 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 18: Charl Du Toit of South Africa competes in the Men’s 200m T37 Final during Day Five of the IPC World ParaAthletics Championships 2017 London at London Stadium on July 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Rio Paralympic gold medallists Charl du Toit and Dyan Buis were the men to do the job, winning the T37 and T38 200-metre finals respectively.

Du Toit, who did the 200/400m golden double in Rio, was first to celebrate as he ran a season’s best 23.27.

That saw him beat Brazilian runner-up Mateus Evangelista Cardosa by a 0.14 second margin. In the same race Du Toit’s compatriot, Ruhan van Rooyen had the satisfaction of a 24.88 personal best in sixth spot.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 18: Dyan Buis of South Africa celebrates winning the gold medal in the Men's 200m T38 Final during Day Five of the IPC World ParaAthletics Championships 2017 London at London Stadium on July 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by S Bardens - British Athletics/British Athletics via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 18: Dyan Buis of South Africa celebrates winning the gold medal in the Men’s 200m T38 Final during Day Five of the IPC World ParaAthletics Championships 2017 London at London Stadium on July 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by S Bardens – British Athletics/British Athletics via Getty Images)

Just twenty minutes later Stellenbosch local Dyan Buis blasted to victory in the T38 classification. He also clocked a season’s best but his victory margin was that much tighter as he beat China’s Jianwen Hu by just 0.02 seconds.

Just as in Du Toit’s race there was more SA satisfaction as Union Sekailwe ran a season’s best 23.96 down in seventh spot.

Going into Thursday, South Africa were in 31st position with six medals, two gold medals later and they’ve soared 19 spots up to 13th as China have overtaken the US for top spot with 32 medals.

Also on the track was Louzanne Coetzee in the women’s T11 800m where was third in a personal best 2 minutes 27.65 seconds as only the first two in each heat progressed.

Earlier in the week, there were silver medals all round. Anrune Liebenberg took silver in the T47 200 metre final as she clocked 25.53 seconds. Jonathan Ntutu took silver in the men’s T12 final as he clocked 11.01 seconds behind Cuba’s Pineda Savon (10.72). 15-year-old Ntando Mahlangu bagged his silver in the men’s T42 when he clocked a season’s best 23.95 behind Britain’s Richard Whitehead, who ran a championship record 23.26. Mahlangu failed to make his 100m final on Monday due to a broken blade, see below.

This article originally appeared on sascoc.com.

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