Photo: Usain Bolt is going after yet another World Championship 100m gold medal today (photo courtesy of the Mirror)
There was major disappointment in the morning session of day two of the IAAF World Championships in London for Jamaica as pre-championship medal favourite, O’Dayne Richards, failed to advance to the final round of the Men’s Shot Put.
Richards threw 19.95 on his first attempt before fouling his second. With the pressure on to get into the final, the 2015 silver medalist could only manage 19.84m to see his World Championship dream come to an early end.
In the Men’s 400m, Demish Gaye, who was the first of three Jamaicans in the event ran a very powerful first 300m to lead his heat coming off the final bend. The GC Foster athlete then took his foot off the pedal as he and the African champion Baboloki Thebe of Botswana looked at each other while jogging to the line. Thebe was first in 44.82 while Gaye finished second in 44.98. Dwayne Cowan of Great Britain was third in 45.39.
Steven Gayle who ran in heat 4, was in contention coming off the final turn but faded badly in the home stretch to finish 7th. He was later disqualified. The heat was won by Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas in 44.75. National champion Nathon Allen ran a very controlled race to win the final heat in 44.91 and join Gaye in the semifinals.
In the Women’s triple jump, both athletes advanced to the final as the consistent Shanieka Ricketts qualified with 14.21m and national champion Kimberly Williams with 14.14m.
Jura Levy eased into the second round of the women’s 100m when she finished third in heat one in 11.09, behind a fast Gina Luckenkemper of Germany who ran a personal best of 10.95 to win and Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast, second in 11.04.
Elaine Thompson, running in the rain out of lane two, was comfortable in winning heat two in 11.05. Simone Facey who led heat five was overtaken by Rosangela Santos of Brazil who won in 11.04, Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland second in 11.14 and Michelle-Lee Ahye of Trinidad and Tobago third. also in 11.14. Her fourth place time of 11.29 was enough to see her through as one of the fastest qualifiers.
Natasha Morrison running in the inside lane in heat six led the race for about 60 meters but was unable to hold off a fast finishing field, crossing the line third in 11.21 for third in a blanket finish. Daryll Neita of Great Britain was first in 11.15 and Deajah Stevens of the USA second in 11.17s.
The evening session will see Usain Bolt going after gold in his final World Championships. He will be joined by Yohan Blake and Julian Forte in the semifinals of the Men’s 100m while in the discus men, Fedrick Dacres and Travis Smikle will chase history in trying to medal in this particular event. Damar Forbes also chases gold in the Men’s Long Jump final.
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