Semenya continues winning comeback

Semenya always looked in control against a weak field. Britains Marilyn Okoro might have offered Semenya some competition but pulled out before the event. Semenya appeared to be relaxed before the race on a blustery day in the small town of Lapinlahti,which has a population of 8,000 and is situated 280 miles to the north of the capital Helsinki.

In the absence of any real rivalry,Semenya said she found it tough to stay with the two pacemakers.

The race was pretty hard,the pace was fast for me, Semenya said. It helped me to run a faster time,so Im quite happy with the performance. Sofia Oberg of Sweden came a distant second in 2:04.27 and Russias Anna Verhovskaya was third in 2.04.41.

Despite the improvement in her time,Semenya said she felt that she was lacking power and her coach Michael Seme agreed. The speed is not there. Its still a long way, Seme said. But its going according to my plan.