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(CNS): Davonte Howell, 18, failed to advance to the men’s 100-meter semifinals on Saturday in his first Olympic Games, but he is already preparing for the next Olympics. “I know exactly what I need to improve on,” the Cayman Islands sprinter said after his warm-up session. “This is my first Olympics and it definitely won’t be my last.”
In the preliminaries, Howell won his second run in 10.31 seconds and automatically qualified for the first round with his first-place finish. Although he did not advance to the semifinals, he was one-seventh of a second faster than his preliminaries, finishing in 10.24 seconds. He was sixth in the preliminaries and 39th out of 69 athletes in the first round.
“I didn’t start the round the way I wanted to,” Howell said. “It was a little shaky because I was a lot better last round. But that’s what we do: We learn as we go along. There’s a lot to improve on, but I’m glad I improved.”
Howell’s Olympic debut came after his first collegiate season at the University of Tennessee, when he helped the 4×100-meter relay team qualify for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
“I was only 18, and I didn’t expect people to expect me to come here and win an Olympic title,” he said. “So, it wasn’t a big knock on my confidence or … anything that made me feel bad. I’m just happy that I got this far in the season. It’s been a long season.”
“It feels great to be honest because it’s one of my biggest dreams … and the Cayman Islands will be there to support me when I run,” he said of the opportunity to represent the Cayman Islands at the 2024 Paris Olympics. “So, it’s really exciting to be able to wear this jersey with the flag on it and represent the Cayman Islands on the biggest stage.”
Watch Howell’s match in the prelims:
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