Three-time Olympic Games finalist Michelle-Lee Ahye was seventh in the women’s 60m final at the IAAF World Athletics Indoor Championships at the Stark Arena, in Belgrade, Serbia on Friday.
This was after the 29-year-old Ahye, running out of lane seven had another tough start before crossing the line in a season-best 7.11 seconds, to finish ahead of Brazilian Vitoria Cristina who clocked 7.21.
A surprise winner was Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji who ran out of lane eight to stun the field in a world-leading time of 6.96 seconds, just ahead of the American duo, Mikiah Brisco (6.99), and Marybeth Sant-Price (7.04), both personal best times.
Pre-race favourite, Poland’s Ewa Swoboda had to settle for the fourth spot in 7.04 as well followed by Jamaicans, Briana Williams and Shericka Jackson, who were also given times of 7.04 seconds, both personal bests’ as well.
In the third and final semifinal, the 2018 Commonwealth Games champion was a second-place finisher at her fourth appearance at an IAAF Indoor Championship, with her previous best finish being fourth in 2019 in Oregon, Portland while she ended sixth, both in 2014 in Poland, and 2018 in England.
But it was not a straightforward semifinal race for Ahye though, as there was a bit of a delay to the heat due to a wrongful false start disqualification of Spain’s Maria Isabel Perez in lane seven before the officials correctly disqualified Claudia Payton of Sweden in lane eight.
When the race finally began, four-time World Championship finalist Ahye, in lane four kept her focus and overcame a slow start to cross the line in 7.14 seconds, a season-best to finish behind Jamaican Briana Williams who clocked 7.08, the other automatic qualifier for the final, while Brazilian Vitoria Cristina Rosa finished in 7.14 as well, to qualify for the final as one of the two fastest losers.
The quartet of Switzerland’s Geraldine Frey (7.15), Great Britain’s Daryll Neita (7.15), Perez (7.20), and Gambia’s Gina Bass (7.31) were the other finishers in the heat.
<Richards goes after second World medal>
World 200m bronze medalist and 4x400m relay champion, Jereem Richards will go after his second World Indoor Championship medal when he lines up in the men’s 400m final on Saturday from 3.15 pm (TT time).
On Friday, Richards won the first of two six-man semifinals with relative ease in a time of 46.15 seconds, with Denmark’s Benjamin Lobo Vedel second in 46.30 and USA’s Marqueze Washington, taking the third and the final spot in the gold medal lap event, in 46.36.
The trio of Belgium’s Julien Watrin (46.54), Kazakhstan Mikhail Litvin (46.89) and Poland’s Kajetan Duszynski (47.21) were the other finishers in the first semifinal.
And in the other semifinal, Sweden’s Carl Bengtstrom (45.92), USA’s Trevor Bassitt (46.26) and Czech Republic’s Patrik Sorm (46.55) were the top three finishers to book their places in the final.
The pair of Spain’s Bruno Hortelano-Roig (46.76) and Serbia’s Bosko Kijanovic (46.97) were fourth and fifth respectively while Jamaican Christopher Taylor did not finish.
Earlier in the day, Richards who was a member of the 4x400m national indoor quartet who got bronze in 2012, also coasted to victory in heat two of five of the men’s 400m from lane five in 46.49 seconds and was joined as an automatic qualifier for the semifinals by Mikhail Litvin of Kazakhstan who finished the one-lap event in 46.72.
Richards has a season-best time of 45.83 seconds and entered the event ranked tenth in the world.
The deceased Deon Lendore, 29, qualified for the 2022 championships but died in a vehicular accident on January 10 in Texas, USA.
Lendore won both individual and relay medals at previous editions of the indoor championships. Richards, who was Lendore’s men’s 4x400m team-mate, was a pallbearer at Lendore’s funeral.
