Olympian, Aliyah Abrams, clinched a berth in the women’s 400 metres semifinals tomorrow after cruising to a second place finish in heat two in XXII Commonwealth Games action yesterday here in Birmingham at the Alexander Stadium.
Canada’s Kyra Constantine won the heat in 52.03 seconds, while Abrams crossed the line a half a stride behind in 52.23 seconds.
In a post-race comment, Abrams stated that she had a good start out of lane seven but needed to execute better in the latter half of the race.
The 25 year-old is scheduled to contest semi-final two from lane four at 19:40 hours.
Her sister Jasmine, however, exited the Games after finishing seventh in her semi-final last night in 11.60 seconds. Jasmine, who had set a new national record (11.07s) in June in Trinidad to clinch her spot at these Games, could not replicate a similar performance here in Birmingham.
Meanwhile, Emanuel Archibald also failed to progress to the men’s final of the blue ribbon event. After clocking 10.28 seconds in the heats, the 27 year-old finished his semi-final in 10.43 seconds.
He finished seventh in the heat which was won by South African, Akani Simbine, in 10.07 seconds. Archibald will have a chance at redemption today in the men’s long jump final.
Earlier in the morning session, Kenisha Phillips finished sixth in heat one of the women’s 400 metres in 54.08 seconds.
Quamel Prince faded to sixth on the homestretch in his 800 metres heat and his campaign ended after a pedestrian 1:50.82 seconds.
Another local quarter miler, Arinze Chance, ran out of steam on the final turn to clock 47.63 seconds, just good enough for a fifth place finish in heat five of the men’s 400 metres. His performance was not good enough to progress to the next round.
