Edidiong, Aminat bow out of athletics worlds

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong and Aminat Jamal were yesterday eliminated from further medal contention in their respective sprint events at the World Athletics Championships 2022, being held in Eugene, Oregon, in the US.

Edidiong bowed out in the women’s 200 metres semi-final stage, while Aminat could not advance past the women’s 400m hurdles heats. In the 200m, Edidiong was competing in the second of three semis heats, needing to finish amongst her race’s top two or be one of the next two fastest athletes from all the heats. But the 25-year-old crossed the line in seventh place with a time of 23.31 seconds.

Tamara Clark of the US won in 21.95s, followed by Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain in 21.96s and Elaine Thompson-Herah in 21.97s. All three managed to qualify for the final, which will be held early tomorrow morning, Bahrain time. Edidiong’s run was her last of the world championships, where she was Bahrain’s only athlete to compete in two events. She also raced in the women’s 100m, where she also booked a place in the semi-finals but got no further.

Meanwhile, in the 400m hurdles, Aminat was competing in the second of five heats in the first round, and she narrowly missed out on being one of the four non-automatic qualifiers to join the top four from each heat to advance to the semi-finals. Aminat finished seventh from the eight athletes in her race with a time of 56.78s.

Despite not going through, she was able to clock her season’s best, although it was far from her personal best of 55.12s which she set in 2019. Janieve Russell of Jamaica won in 54.52s, while Shamier Little of the US followed in 54.77s while Viivi Lehikoinen from Finland came third in 54.95s. The other automatic qualifier in fourth was Viktoriya Tkachuk from Ukraine in 55.27s.

Aminat missed out on the next round by just four places on the first-round times overall. The last to make it through was Linda Olivieri, who was also competing in her heat. Bahrain’s national team at the worlds wrap up their medal bid early today morning in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase final, where Winfred Yavi will be hoping to claim a podium spot.

The race is scheduled for a 5.45am start, Bahrain time, with Winfred among 15 athletes set to take part. She heads into the final as one of the favourites, having clocked the world’s fastest time this year in the event, although the opposition is fierce, led by Tokyo Olympics gold-medallist Peruth Chemutai of Uganda, former world champion Emma Coburn of the US, and Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan.