Men's 4x100m relay team keep Team SA's chances of a medal alive with final qualification

South Africa's men's 4x100m relay team gave Team SA hope that they may win a medal yet at the World Championships by qualifying for Saturday's final.

Running in lane two at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on Friday night, the team - made up of Shaun Maswanganyi, Benjamin Richardson, Clarence Munyai and Akani Simbine - finished second behind Italy in a season's best time of 37.72sec, the Italians recording a time of 37.65sec and Great Britain third in a time of 38.01sec.

The trio joined the United States (37.67sec), Jamaica (37.68sec), Japan (37.71sec) in the final, with France and Brazil completing the line-up as the non-automatic qualifiers. With just two more days remaining at these World Champs, South Africa, who saw perennial medal hopes Simbine and Wayde van Niekerk fail to make the podium, are officially desperate for a medal of any colour. As the fourth fastest qualifier for the final Team SA has as good a chance as anyone in what can be a lottery event due to dropped batons and disqualifications, etc.

But they would have to avoid making those mistakes, too.

In the women's 800m semifinals, Prudence Sekgodiso was unfortunate to be the first athlete outside the qualifiers for the final, her time of 2:00.01sec 0.05sec from displacing the United States' Ajee Wilson.

In the morning session, South Africa's only contestant - Douw Smit - failed to get out of the javelin throw qualifiers, his distance of 75.03 earning him a 12th place finish in Group A and falling almost eight metres short of the automatic qualifying distance.