Semenya barely broke sweat on day one of the two-day nationals at Kings Park Athletics Stadium, looking comfortable throughout and pulling away from the chasing pack over the final 50 meters.

The 20-year-old Semenya has targeted a time of under two minutes at the meet in a bid to kickstart her season after recovering from the back injury that spoilt the final part of her season last year and prevented her from running at the Commonwealth Games.

Semenya will look to regain the South African title in Sunday’s 800 final. Having won it in 2009, she was unable to defend last year because of an enforced 11-month layoff following gender tests.

The Pretoria-based athlete is also hoping to defend her title at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, this year and will target the qualifying mark of 1:59.40 in Sunday’s final in Durban.

Also Saturday, Commonwealth hammer champion Chris Harmse claimed an incredible 16th straight national title, continuing a near two-decade dominance of his event at the South African championships.

The 37-year-old Harmse has also won five golds at the African Championships and three titles at the All Africa Games, but has never been to the Olympics as he does not compete on Sundays because of his religious beliefs.

“Sometimes I’ll walk through the streets and instead of people saying ‘There’s Chris Harmse, who throws the hammer,’ they’ll say ‘There’s Chris Harmse, who doesn’t compete on Sundays,” Harmse told the South African Press Association. “Maybe that’s my destiny.” Harmse claimed his first major international title in Delhi last year after Commonwealth bronze medals in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and Melbourne in 2006.