Uganda’s Winnie Nanyondo competes in the Women’s 800m heats yesterday.
Winnie Nanyondo of Uganda underlined her IAAF World Championship medal plans yesterday with the fastest time of the women’s 800 meter heats to qualify for the final along with Natoya Goule, Nataliya Prischepa and Renelle.
The diminutive Ugandan won her heats in two minutes 00.36 seconds to cruise to victory at the Khalifa International Stadium although Ajee Wilson of US was the most comfortable looking of all the athletes.
Uganda’s other representative in the two-lap race Halimah Nakaayi also advanced. She finished second in 2:02.33 in a race won by Wilson. The first three finishers and the next six fastest finishers in each of the six heats advanced to the penultimate stage.
Meanwhile, there was disappointment for Lysney Sharp of England, who faded to a fourth-place finish in the final heat after leading at 600m. It was the slowest race of the six and she couldn’t do enough to progress. The Briton, who has been a consistent top three finisher on the Diamond League circuit all season, looked crest fallen by the result.
One athlete who will advance is 2013 champion Eunice Sum, who was fourth in the second heat but whose 2:02.17 time was enough to see her advance.
In the 3000-meter women’s steeplechase, Genevieve Gregson of Australia topped followed by Geneviève Lalonde of Canada and Celliphine Chepteek Chespol of Kenya Peruth Chemutai of Uganda also sent out an early warning of her medal intentions by winning her heats.
In the Women’s High Jump, Vashti Cunningham of USA topped in the qualifying leaping to a height of 1.94m, the auto mark needed to qualify for the final followed by Mariya Lasitskene, a neutral athlete, while Yuliya Levchenko, Tynita Butts and Claire Orcel got through after clearing 1.92m, with Levern Spencer and Alessia Trost matching that mark but missing out because of failures at earlier heights.
In women’s hammer qualifiers a cursory glance through the record books shows that a 70m+ throw in qualifiers has always been enough to ensure a spot in the world championships final.
Not any more, as Malwina Kopron (70.46), Julia Ratcliffe (70.45) and Yelizaveta Tsareva (70.35) become the first hammer throwers in history to not advance to the final despite hitting that mark.
Joanna Fiodorow of Poland threw the hammer to a distance of 73.39 followed by Iryna Klymets of Ukraine and Alexandra Tavernier of France.
The big names in the women’s pole vault qualified for the final. After sitting out up to this point, 2017 champion Kat Stefanidi advanced to the final. Likewise, European indoor champ Anzhelika Sidorova and British record holder Holly Bradshaw qualified.
Also making past the initial rounds were Sandi Morris, the world indoor champion, Paris Diamond League winner Alysha Newman, and 2015 world champion Yarisley Silva.
