ago.20.2009
Josanne Lucas will bid for precious metal today, at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, here in Berlin, Germany.
The Trinidad and Tobago athlete has been drawn in lane three for the women's 400 metres hurdles final, and should be in the hunt for a medal in the 2.15 p.m. (TT time) championship race.
In Tuesday's semi-final round, Lucas lowered her national record to 53.98 seconds, the clocking earning her second spot, behind Olympic champion Melaine Walker (53.26), of Jamaica.
Never before had a female track athlete from T&T qualified for a World Championship final. And based on her splendid semi-final effort, Lucas is set to surpass Candice Scott as the country's most successful female athlete - track or field - in World Championship history. At the 2005 edition of the meet, Scott finished eighth in the women's hammer throw final.
Only Walker was faster than Lucas in the semis, a statistic that favours the Tobago hurdler in her medal quest. And though her PR (personal record) is only sixth best of the eight finalists, just three have been quicker than Lucas this season.
American Lashinda Demus leads the world at 52.63 seconds, Walker produced her best 2009 clocking in the semis and Romania's Angela Morosanu ran 53.95 on August 2. In the first semi-final, Morosanu finished third, behind Walker and Lucas, in 54.15 seconds and advanced to the final as a "fastest loser".
The task is by no means an easy one, but Lucas seems capable of improving on T&T's best performance to date at the 2009 World Championships - 17-year-old Jehue Gordon's fourth-place finish in the men's 400m hurdles final.
Renny Quow produced a blazing finish in the second men's 400m semi-final heat to book a place in tomorrow's final. The 21-year-old quarter-miler was second in the race, completing his lap of the Olympic Stadium track in a personal best 44.53 seconds to move into second spot on the all-time T&T performance list, behind national record holder Ian Morris (44.21) and ahead of Patrick Delice (44.58).
Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt, running in lane three, quickly made up the stagger on Quow, in four. But the T&T athlete stepped on the accelerator in the second half of the race, motoring his way to the runner-up spot on the home straight. Merritt topped the field in 44.37 seconds.
Afterwards, Quow told the Express that though he had some work to do in the latter part of the race, he was not worried about the possibility of missing out on a top-two spot and an automatic berth in the final.
At 2.02 this afternoon (TT time), Kelly-Ann Baptiste will do battle in the third and final women's 200m semi-final heat. In the opening round, yesterday, the T&T sprinter finished second in heat two in 23 seconds flat, trailing American Muna Lee (22.76) to the line.
The race was only the third competitive half-lap outing this season for Baptiste.
Rondell Sorrillo and Emmanuel Callender exited the men's 200m at the semi-final stage.
In heat one, Sorrillo did not do enough on the bend to give himself a shot at a top-four finish and a place in the final. He was sixth in 20.63 seconds. And in the second semi, Callender clocked 20.70 to finish eighth.
Aleesha Barber was competitive in the early stages of her women's 100m hurdles semi-final heat, but could not stay with the front-runners and had to settle for seventh spot in 13.06 seconds.
source: www.trinidadexpress.com |
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