Paris Olympics: Shanti Pereira clocks 11.63sec in 100m heats, does not advance to semi-finals

PARIS – Singapore sprint queen Shanti Pereira kicked off her Paris Olympics campaign with the women’s 100m heats at the Stade de France on Aug 2, clocking 11.63sec to miss out on the semi-finals.

Running in Lane 8 of the seventh heat at the 80,000-capacity stadium in the afternoon heat, Asian champion Pereira, who qualified based on her world ranking, finished seventh out of nine runners on the purple track.

The 27-year-old eventually placed 55th out of 72 runners, and cried at the media mixed zone when asked about how her recent leg injury had halted her momentum.

On her performance, she said: “Not great. We came into this 100m particularly to really prep for the 200m. Wish it was a better time. It is what it is.”

The top three from each of the eight heats and the next three fastest qualifiers progress to the three semi-finals on Aug 3.

Gambia’s Gina Bass Bittaye (11.01), Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji (11.05) and Belgian Delphine Nkansa (11.20) were the top three in Pereira’s heat.

Overall, Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith of the Ivory Coast was the quickest across the heats in 10.87, with 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce second (10.92) and Britain’s Daryll Neita (10.92) third.

Singapore’s top female sprinter Pereira had a breakthrough 2023 in which she completed a historic women’s 100m and 200m double at the South-east Asian Games in May and the Asian Athletic Championships in July, when she set her 100m national record of 11.20.

In August that year, she became the first Singaporean to reach the World Athletics Championships semi-finals when she also met the Olympic entry mark with her national record of 22.57 in the 200m heats, before she won a 200m gold and 100m silver at the Asian Games within the next two months.

However, she suffered a leg injury in April, which caused her to miss her Diamond League debut.

Pereira said: “It was a very, very unfortunate injury that set me back eight weeks. That’s just not being on the track and then having to kind of start from zero again. We were given very little time, but my coach and I did the best we could do, given the circumstances.

“So, yeah, it was tough, for sure, but it’s okay. I still managed to show up in Paris and get a chance to give my best in two events.”

The 27-year-old will next feature in the 200m heats on Aug 4.

Pereira made her Olympics debut when she competed on a universality invite at the Tokyo Games in 2021, finishing sixth in her 200m heat with a season-best 23.96sec for 39th out of 41 overall.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.