Amantle Montsho, fastest in the opening round of the 400m in Daegu (© Getty Images)
If Christine Ohuruogu came to Daegu looking for a confidence boost after a lacklustre season, she did not get it. The Osaka 2007 World champion and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games gold medallist was disqualified in her heat Saturday night after a false start.
Ohuruogu clasped her hands to her face as soon as she heard the false start gun. She had her back to the track referee as he walked past her, but when she turned round all she could see was a red card. The official led her from the track by the arm and her Daegu campaign was over without ever starting (legally).
It was the sensation of a round which was otherwise straight-forward. With 24 out of 37 going through to Sunday night’s semi-finals, it was hard for a good runner not to go through. This, of course, made Ohuruogu’s disqualification even more poignant.
It’s a tough game, but one athlete’s misfortune is often another’s good luck. Getting the fourth and final automatic qualifying spot in the heat was Ethiopia’s Fantu Magiso in 52.23 seconds. She is the first Ethiopian woman to advance a round in the women’s 400.
One man has done so – Alemayehu Gudeta in 1987 – and it is to be hoped Magiso has better luck than him. Gudeta did not start his second-round heat.
Racheal Nachula of Zambia also advanced as one of the four fastest non-automatic qualifiers. She was fifth in the Ohuruogu heat in 53.49. It is the first time a Zambian woman has advanced a round. Nachula finished fifth in a heat in Berlin two years ago, but did not advance. So Ohuruogu’s misfortune got two others through to the semis.
The women’s 400m is a wide open event and the first round heats did little to clarify the situation.
Novlene William-Mills of Jamaica, fourth in 2009, beat the 200-400 double hopeful Allyson Felix in the first heat, 51.30 to 51.45.
Antonina Yefremova of Ukraine won the second heat from 2011’s fastest woman, Anastasiya Kapachinskaya of Russia, 51.35 to 51.43 and Rosemarie Whyte of Jamaica took Ohuruogu’s heat in 51.38.
Amantle Montsho of Botswana, the form runner on the Samsung Diamond League circuit, ran fastest time of the round in taking heat four in 50.95.
The fifth and final heat saw Berlin 2009 gold and silver medallists, Sanya Richards-Ross and Shericka Williams matched up. They finished in Berlin order, Richards-Ross 51.37 to Williams 51.66.
The semi-finals will be on Sunday night with the final on Monday night.
Len Johnson for the IAAF
