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PARIS, France — Three Jamaican women sprinters all qualified for the semifinals after finishing second in their heats in the women’s 100-meter race at the Stade de France on Friday morning at the Paris Olympics.
Leading the way was veteran Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce with a time of 10.92 seconds (+0.8mps), behind her good friend Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith of Ivory Coast, who ran 10.87 seconds in the eighth and final run. Tia Clayton also qualified for the semi-finals, finishing second in the heats with a time of 11.00 seconds (+1.2mps), behind Canadian Audrey Leduc, who set a national record of 10.95 seconds.
Shashalee Forbes, who replaced Sherika Jackson, finished in 11.19 seconds (-0.4mps), just behind American Twanisha Terry who finished in 11.15 seconds.
Other outstanding performances
Other runners to watch include Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States, who won her heat in 10.95 seconds (+0.1mps), and Julien Alfred of St. Lucia, who also finished in 10.95 seconds (-0.8mps). Leah Bertrand of Trinidad and Tobago advanced to the semifinals, having placed third in her heat in 11.27 seconds.
However, several Caribbean runners failed to advance. Tristan Evelyn of Barbados was sixth in the heats with a time of 11.55 seconds, while Michelle Lee Ayeh of Trinidad and Tobago was fourth in the heats with a time of 11.33 seconds, just ahead of Eunice Laidi Garcia Abreu of Cuba, who finished with a time of 11.37 seconds.
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St. Kitts and Nevis’ Zahria Alese Liburd finished eighth in the preliminary round in 11.89 seconds, Grenada’s Hallie Hazzard finished eighth in 11.79 seconds, and Antigua and Barbuda’s Jorah Lloyd finished seventh in 11.37 seconds, none of which were good enough to advance.
Saturday’s semi-finals
The semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday night, with Forbes set to take on Ta Lou Smith, Melissa Jefferson of the United States and Deena Arthur Smith of the United Kingdom in lane 3 of the first round. Fraser-Pryce will face Alfred and Richardson in the second round, while Clayton will take on Darul Neta, Leduc, Terry and Bertrand of the United Kingdom in the third round.
The top two from each semifinal will advance to the final along with the two fastest losers.
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s national high jump record holder Ramala Distin had a disappointing performance, clearing 1.88m, well below her personal best of 2.00m, and failing to qualify. Distin, a multi-award winning athlete with titles such as Commonwealth Games and NACAC U23 champion, finished 11th out of 14 in Group B, despite being ranked eighth in the world.
Meanwhile, swimmer Josh Kirlew was eliminated in the men’s 100m butterfly after finishing fifth in his preliminaries in 54.66 seconds, 36th overall out of 40 competitors.
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