File Photo: Omar McLeod created history on Tuesday night when he became the first Jamaican to win the men’s 110m hurdles gold medal at the Olympics.
Omar McLeod created history on Tuesday night when he became the first Jamaican male to win a gold medal in the 110m hurdles at the Olympic Games, blazing to glory in 13.05 seconds. The most consistent male hurdler in the last two seasons, McLeod came into the event the heavy favourite and safely navigated his way to the final with efficient but careful performances in the heats and semifinals.
However when it mattered most, the 22 year old released the hand brakes and put the pedal to the metal, inside the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to claim a famous win. With Frenchmen Pascal Martinot-Lagarde to his left and Dimitri Bascou to his right for company, McLeod carefully cleared the first three hurdles before slowly pulling away from the field, powering home over the last two hurdles as the gap widened. The former Arkansas Razorback athlete won by .12s, the largest margin of victory in the event, in a long time.
Orlando Ortega of Spain, running out of lane 8 snatched the silver medal in 13.17s with a storming finish while Bascou who ran 13.24s, claimed bronze. It was a disappointing 4th place for Martinot-Lagarde who was expected to be on the medal podium.
In the semi-finals, run just over an hour before the final, both Deuce Carter and Andrew Riley failed to advance to the final after finishing sixth and fourth in heats one and three respectively.
In what is turning out to be a very historic Olympic Games for the small island nation, all three female 400m hurdlers made their way to the final, a first for the country. In the semifinals, National champion Ristananna Tracey (54.80) finished second in heat one behind Zuzana Hejnova (54.55), Janieve Russell also finished second in heat two in 54.92 behind Ashley Spencer of the USA in 54.87 while Leah Nugent produced a personal best effort of 54.98 in finishing third to qualify on time for the final. All three women are participating in their first Olympic Games and will next face the starter on Thursday as they chase a podium finish.
The men were not as fortunate as the women in the 400m hurdles semifinals as only Annsert Whyte advanced to the final. Whyte who is the National champion, won heat two in another personal best of 48.32s ahead of Javier Culson of Puerto Rico who ran a season best time of 48.46 and Yasmani Copello of Turkey who was third in 48.61.
19 year old Jaheel Hyde, participating in his first Olympic Games, exited at the semifinal stage after finishing 5th in semifinal one in 49.17s. Kerron Clement won the heat in 48.26s,the fastest of all three heats. Roxroy Cato was disqualified from heat three which was won by Thomas Barr of Ireland in a national record time of 48.39s.
Two Jamaicans faced the starter in the 200m semifinals but only one advanced. In heat one, World Champion silver medalist Elaine Thompson (22.13), finished second behind her rival and World Champion gold medalist, Dafne Schippers (21.96). Deajah Stevens of the USA was third and also advanced to the final.
In heat three Simone Facey ran a season best time of 22.57s to finish third but it was not fast enough to advance on time. Tori Bowie won heat three in 22.13s while Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast won heat two with a personal best effort of 22.28s.
Derek Drouin of Canada (2.38m) won gold in the men’s high jump, Muyaz Essa Barshim of Qatar with a height of 2.36m got silver and Bohdan Bondarenko of the Ukraine claimed bronze after clearing 2.33m. Bondarenko won ahead of three other athletes on count back.
Faith Kipyegon of Kenya won the women’s 1500m gold medal in 4:08.92, Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia won silver in 4:10.27 and Jennifer Simpson of the USA won bronze in 4:10.53.
Erlier in the day, in the morning session, all three women advanced to the semi-finals of the 100m hurdles. Shermaine Williams finished fourth in 12.95s but advanced on time from heat one, Nickiesha Wilson was third in heat four and advanced with a time of 12.89s while Megan Simmonds was second in heat 6 in 12.81s behind fastest winner Brianna Rollins in 12.54s.
It was the same for the men in the 200m as Yohan Blake finished second in 20.13 in heat 2, Nickel Ashmeade won heat 6 in 20.15 and Usain Bolt won heat 9 in 20.28s.
The women’s 200m and 100m hurdles finals are the last two track events on Wednesday night.
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