14 Apr 2012

Olympic hopeful Pistorius scrapes into national final

10:22 am on 14 April 2012

Double amputee Oscar Pistorius scraped into the 400 metres final at the South African championships yesterday saying he did not feel the need to push himself in the heats.

Pistorius, who wants to become the first amputee athlete to compete at an Olympics, looked at ease when finishing second in a time of 48.34 seconds in his heat.

He then placed fourth in the semi-final and says he would like to finish in the top three in the finals.

The 25-year-old sprinter, who uses carbon fibre prosthetic running blades, dipped below the Olympic qualifying time of 45.30 in Pretoria last month, clocking 45.20.

He needs to repeat that performance in an international meeting in order to qualify for the South African team.

Pistorius has a busy international schedule planned in order to meet qualifying standard for the London Games, which start in July.