PARIS – National sprinter Shanti Pereira will get another shot at making the women’s 200m semi-finals as she progressed to the repechage round after clocking 23.21 seconds in the heats at the Stade de France on Aug 4.
The 27-year-old’s timing placed her last in Heat 5, with American Brittany Brown (22.38sec), Jamaica’s Lanae-Tava (22.70) and Britain’s Bianca Williams (22.77) progressing to the semi-finals.
Pereira eventually placed 31st among the field of 45 runners. United States’ Gabrielle Thomas was the top qualifier in 22.20sec, with Nigeria’s Favour Ofili (22.24) and Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith (22.28) second- and third-quickest overall in the heats.
Only the top three from each heat advance to the semi-finals directly, while the rest have one more chance to qualify through the repechage round.
This is a new format that World Athletics has introduced at the Paris Games in the 100/110m hurdles, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 800m and 1,500m.
The repechage round will take place on Aug 5. This is Pereira’s second race at the Paris Olympics.
She started her campaign on Aug 2 with the women’s 100m in which she clocked 11.63 seconds and placed 55th out of 72 runners.
Pereira made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games, where she finished 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.
