Under the bright lights of Beijing’s National Stadium, 40 sprinters rushed off the blocks to run the second qualifying round of the Women’s 100m on Saturday night.
According to the rules, the top three runners in each heat automatically qualify for the next round. The runner with the next fastest time out of all of the heats will take the last of the 16 semifinal spots.
When the results were officially announced, heat four was the fastest, with Kerron Stewart of Jamaica the only runner to clock under 11 seconds in any of the heats. She crossed the tape at 10.98.
Although Yuliya Nestsiarenka of Belarus came in fourth in this heat, at 11.14, she qualifies for the semifinal as the fastest runner who didn’t place in the top three of a heat. Nestsiarenka is the defending Olympic gold medalist in the event. She finished ahead of US favorite Lauryn Williams in 2004.
Williams, who came in second in her heat in 11.07, will move on to the semis, along with teammates Muna Lee, who clocked 11.08 in the first heat, and Torri Edwards, first in heat five with a time of 11.31.
Shelly-Ann Fraser (Jamaica), Evgeniya Polyakova (Russia), Jeanette Kwakye (Great Britain), Sherone Simpson (Jamaica), Chandra Sturrup (Bahamas), Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (Bahamas), Oludamola Osayomi (Nigeria), Vida Anim (Ghana), Kim Gevaert (Belgium), Lina Grincikaite (Lithuania) and Ivet Lalova (Bulgaria) will all move onto the next round.
The semifinals of the Women’s 100m will take place on Sunday, August 17, at 7:45 p.m. The final is scheduled for 10:25 that same evening.
(Source: en.beijing2008.cn)
