LONDON – As tension is building towards the women’s final at 4:55 p.m. today, Barbadians will have to wait until after the preliminary heats of the men’s 100 metres are run here at the London 2012 Olympic Games to see where sprinter Ramon Gittens has been drawn.
The preliminary heats feature the slowest qualifiers and the only Caribbean runner in the line-up is Dominica’s Courtney Carl Williams who has a personal best of 11.04 seconds. He is in Lane 6 of the fourth and final heat which will run at 5:24 a.m.
Ten runners will advance to the first round, scheduled for 7:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s defending 100 metres women’s champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (11.00) and 200 metres champion Veronica Campbell-Brown (10.94) won their heats as well as Trinidad and Tobago’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste (10.96). Also advancing were Bahamian Sheniqua Ferguson (11.35), Michelle Lee-Ahye (11.28) and Semoy Hackett (11.04) of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica’s Kerron Clement in 11.08 seconds.
Sydney 2000 relay golden girl Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie of The Bahamas was fifth in her heat in 11.32 seconds and did not advance to the semis.
The news was not as good in the field events. Allison Randall of Jamaica did not reach the final of the women’s discus, placing 15th in her group with a best of 58.06m. Compatriot Damar Forbes (7.79m) and Raymond Higgs (7.76m) of The Bahamas were 19th and 21st, respectively, in the qualifying rounds of the long jump.
Leaders Mauro Vinicius DaSilva of Brazil and American Marquise Goodwin both leaped 8.11m going into the final.
Jamaican Dorian Scott did not make the final cut, finishing tenth in the men’s shot put with 20.61m. The gold medal went to defending Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski of Poland, who went to the top in the third round (21.87) by one centimetre over Germany’s David Storl, and then upped it to 21.89 in the final round.
Meanwhile, the heats of the men’s 400 metres also get under way at 5:35 a.m. today, and a host of Caribbean athletes are in the seven races.
Renny Quow of Trinidad and Tobago and Rusheen McDonald of Jamaica will run out of Heat 1 along with South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius, the “Blade Runner”.
Grenada’s World champion Kirani James will run from Lane 6 in Heat 2, which also includes Deon Lendore of Trinidad and Tobago and Bahamian Ramon Miller. Jamaican Dane Hyatt is in Heat 3 and his compatriot Jermaine Gonzales will run in the following heat, along with Demetrius Pinder of The Bahamas.
Heat 5 will see another Bahamian, Chris Brown. Lalonde Gordon of Trinidad and Guyana’s Winston George will run in Heat 6, and Erison Hurtault of Dominica completes the Caribbean starters, running out of Lane 4 in the final heat.
In today’s semi-finals of the men’s 400m hurdles at 2 p.m., Trinidadian Jehue Gordon has drawn a better lane, but a tougher heat. In Lane 5 of the first heat, he faces a battle for the automatic second spot, and will have to fight American Kerron Clement and former champion Felix Sanchez, as Briton Dai Greene is the favourite.
Jamaica’s Leford Green is in Lane 4 for the third of three semis.
Just over an hour later, the women will face the starter, seeking a coveted spot in the final of the 400 metres.
Jamaica’s Rosemarie Whyte has drawn Sanya Richards-Ross of the United States and Britain’s Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu in Heat 1. Christine Day of Jamaica and Guyana’s Aliann Pompey have World champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana and American Francena McCorory, while the other Jamaican Novlene Williams-Mills has DeeDee Trotter and Antonina Krivoshapka of the United States and Russia, respectively, in the final heat.
