Photo: Annsert Whyte will hunt the first medal for Jamaica on Day 7 of track and field at the Rio Olympic Games when he contests the men’s 400m hurdles finals at 10:00am local time.
Jamaica will continue its hunt for Gold medals in Rio, Brazil on the 7th day of track and field as they chase medals in the 400m hurdles finals for both, men and women as well as the 200m for men, which will close the day on Thursday.
Annsert Whyte will be the first athlete to go after a medal at 10:00am local time in the men’s 400m hurdles final. Whyte ran a personal best in the heats and again in the semi-finals and heads into the final full of confidence with 48.32s under his belt.
Whyte will run out of lane 6, just ahead of Kerron Clement of the USA in lane 5, who has the fastest time of 48.26s heading into the final. Thomas Barr of Ireland ran a national record of 48.39s to book his spot and he goes from lane 4.
One of the most wide open 400m hurdles finals in recent history will also feature two Kenyans, Boniface Tumuti in lane 7 and Haron Koech in lane 8. Running from the inside lanes, Rasmus Magi of Estonia in lane 1, Yasmani Copello of Turkey in lane 2, and Javier Culson of Puerto Rico in lane 3, will all believe they stand a chance of finishing on the podium.
Before Whyte looks to add to Jamaica’s medal tally, his teammate O’Dayne Richards will begin his Olympic medal quest in the preliminary round of the Men’s Shot Put at 7:55am. The final for this event begins at 6:30 in the evening.
The sprint relay heats begin this morning, the women go off at 9:20am followed by the men at 9:40am. Double gold medal sprint champion, Elaine Thompson, and Usain Bolt, who is still chasing another individual gold, will not run in the heats for Jamaica.
In the evening session, three Jamaican women will face the starter at 8:15 in the 400m hurdles final. National champion Ristananna Tracey along with Janieve Russell and Leah Nugent will battle a very tough field as they too chase glory. Nugent runs out of lane two, while Tracey and Russell have been drawn in seven and eight respectively. Tracey and Russell will be able to push each other while Nugent will be dragged by the likes of favourite Dalilah Muhammad of the USA.
The legendary Usain Bolt is expected to bring the house down in the final track event for the evening. Bolt will be seeking to win his third consecutive 200m gold medal at the Olympic Games and to the three 100m gold medals he has already secured to immortalize himself as the greatest sprinter of all time. That race will go off at 8:30.
At the end of the day, Jamaica could possibly add at least three more medals to their burgeoning collection, being amassed in Rio de Janeiro.
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