• IN THE PINK: Jenna Challenor clocked 2hr 37min 09sec in Sunday’s Nagoya marathon to put herself into contention for the Rio Olympics. Picture: GALLO IMAGES/REG CALDECOTT

  • Wayde van Niekerk. Picture: GALLO IMAGES/GRANT PITCHER

MOTHER-of-three Jenna Challenor ran herself into Olympic contention on Sunday as she cut more than four minutes off her personal best time in Japan.

Challenor finished 32nd in 2hr 37min 09sec in a fast Nagoya women’s marathon in which nine of the top 20 achieved personal bests. Eunice Kirwa of Bahrain won in 2:22.40.

Challenor’s time places her second on the South African rankings of women bidding to make the team for the Rio Games in August.

"I loved the race. My aim was to run a PB (personal best) and beat my time of 2:41, which I did, so I’m thrilled," she said.

A country can enter a maximum of three entrants per athletics events at the Olympics, and already, eight South African women are inside the official qualifying time of 2:45.00.

Christine Kalmer leads with 2:33.43, but her sister, Rene, as well as Irvette van Zyl and Mapaseka Makhanya — who boast the three fastest personal bests — make their final qualifying bids next month.

Makhanya, who is already third on the list with 2:37:21, competes in Daegu on April 3, while Rene Kalmer and Van Zyl will run the London marathon on April 24.

Kalmer and Van Zyl both need to post Olympic qualifying times before the window ends on April 30. And Challenor is expecting them to come at her hard: "Rio would be a dream come true. However, we have very strong marathon runners still to run, so time will tell."

Making SA’s top three will not necessarily guarantee selection for any runner, and the final decision will rest with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.

Kenya dominated the African cross-country championships in Cameroon on Saturday, winning all the gold medals on offer, with SA picking up bronze medals in the senior women’s and junior men’s races.

At home, Caster Semenya showed she is returning to form after nearly four years in the wilderness as she set a 400m personal best in Potchefstroom on Saturday.

Her 51.47 at the Central North West provincial championships suggested she will again be a force in the 800m, where she last delivered with a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics in London. Semenya, who won world championship gold in 2009 and silver in 2011, has struggled for form since then, and last year, only just managed to qualify for the 2015 world championships, where she progressed to the semifinals.

In Bloemfontein on Saturday, Wayde van Niekerk clocked 9.98sec in the 100m to become the first man in history to post a sub-10 100m, sub-20 200m and sub-44 400m.

Akani Simbine, who lowered SA’s 100m record to 9.96sec last week, showed consistency by going 10.01 as he won the Gauteng North title.

Also in Pretoria, Luvo Manyonga leapt to an 8.30m personal best. SA’s track and field is looking good right now.