National record sends Shafiqua Maloney into 800m Olympic final
Saint-Denis, France – Advancing to finals was the key mission for Razorbacks in action on Sunday at Stade de France as the trio of Wayne Pinnock, Carey McLeod, and Shafiqua Maloney all advanced.
The morning session had the Jamaican pair of Pinnock and McLeod placing seventh and 11th overall as the top 12 moved onto Tuesday’s long jump final.
In the evening session, Maloney bettered her national record with a 1:57.59 performance that was fourth fastest overall in the 800m semifinal. In addition to her national record, Maloney becomes the first athlete from St. Vincent & the Grenadines to reach an Olympic Games final in any event. The 800m final will be held on Monday evening.
The previous national record by Maloney occurred in the Olympic prelims with a 1:58.23.
At the 400m mark, Maloney split 57.0 and was fifth at that stage. Coming off the final turn she moved over a couple of lanes and charged to the finish. Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma won the heat in a career best of 1:57.47 ahead of Maloney.
Behind Maloney were American Juliette Whittaker, who advanced on time with a 1:57.76 career best. Also advancing on time to the delight of another sold out Stade de France was Renelle Lamote of France 1:57.78. Missing out on the final with a 1:58.01 was Jemma Reekie of Great Britain in fifth.
Another British runner, Keely Hodgkinson registered the overall leading time of 1:56.36 while Duguma was second fastest and South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso had the third best time at 1:57.57.
Pinnock reached a distance of 26-1.5 (7.96) in long jump qualifying while McLeod hit a mark of 25-11 (7.90) to advance to the final. Jarrion Lawson had three fouls and didn’t produce a mark.
Leading the field of 12 heading to the final is Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the 2023 world champion and defending Olympic gold medalist, with a leap of 27-3.75 (8.32).
Chris Bailey finished second in his heat during the opening round of the 400m, clocking 44.89 behind a 44.78 for Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain. The leading time heading to the semifinal was 44.10 by American Michael Norman while teammate Quincy Hall was second fastest at 44.28.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, Anna Cockrell advanced to the semifinal with a 53.91 heat victory. Gianna Woodruff, representing Panama, placed fifth in her heat at 54.94 and will race again in the repechage round.
Brittany Brown won her opening heat of the 200m in 22.38 (0.2 wind) over a 22.70 for Jamaican Lanae-Tava Thomas and 22.77 for Bianca Williams of Great Britain. The 200m semifinal will be held on Monday evening.
Monday’s schedule will include qualifying for Rojé Stona in the discus, where the Jamaican is the final thrower in group B. Meanwhile, Tina Śutej is in group B of the pole vault qualifying.
The women’s 400m first round will include Razorbacks Amber Anning and Nickisha Pryce in action. Pryce races in lane 8 of the second heat while Anning is stationed in lane 8 of the third heat.