Caster Semenya Smashes Her Personal Best in 3 000m, Sets Sights on the 5 000m in World Championships

• South Africa's Caster Semenya has turned her attention to dominating the 3 000m and 5 000m athletic events
• Caster Semenya set a new personal best time in the 3 000m and will be looking to qualify for the 5 000m World Championships
• Semenya was banned from competing in the 800m event unless she takes tablets to lower her testosterone levels

There’s no keeping Caster Semenya down.

The Superstar South African athlete is proving that she can be a champion across numerous distances as she now tackles the longer-distance events.

Semenya won the 3 000m event at Athletics South Africa's Grand Prix in Cape Town, smashing her personal best time in the process, The South African reported.

Semenya finished first in a time of 8 minutes 54 seconds, a new personal best. She also came close to beating the world’s leading time in the event this year which is 8 minutes 52 seconds.

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Athletics

Semenya is now eyeing up qualifying for the 5 000m event in the 2022 World Championship, Sport24 reported.

The qualifying time for the 5 000m is 15:10.00 and Caster Semenya is hopeful of making the cut.

"I am there or thereabouts. If it happens, then it happens," she said.

Caster has been forced to focus on long-distance events due to a ruling that prevents her from competing in the 800m event, an event where she has broken world records and won Olympic championships.

World Athletics has banned her from competing in the event due to her high testosterone levels. Despite the numerous appeals, Caster is yet to get the ruling overturned.

The ruling has drawn criticism of late, with Lia Thomas dominating headlines. Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Swimming Championship, The Guardian reported.

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Football

Caster Semenya leaves the track, joins South African football team JVW

South African middle-distance runner and 2016 Olympic gold medalist, Caster Semenya, has taken a new career decision by switching to football as she recently joined JVW FC, Sports Brief earlier reported.

The 28-year-old is now on the verge of starting a new life in football even though she is awaiting the response to her appeal on the judgment of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Semenya was barred from defending her 800m title in Doha unless she takes hormone-suppressing tablets.

Her current situation has made her leave athletics to begin a new career in football, but she will now have to wait till 2020 before she can play for JVW FC. This is because the transfer window for registering players in South Africa has closed, but she will be training with the club till January 2020.