Cape Town – Caster Semenya has smashed the South African 1000m record that stood for 35 years at the Athletix Grand Prix meeting held at Tuks in Johannesburg.

Semenya won the race in a time of 2:35:44, beating the old record set in 1983 by Ilze Wicksell by almost two seconds.

The Olympic gold medalist was followed by Winnie Nanyondo and Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda. 

Semenya is part of the South African team that will compete in the 2018 Commonwealth from April 4-15 at the Gold Coast in Australia. 

@caster800m takes the 1000m with a time of 2:35.44sec #LIVE #gritsportsathletics #AthletixMagicMeets pic.twitter.com/FrpxIQE8bs

— Grit Sports® (@Grit_Sports) March 8, 2018