Abrams qualifies for today’s 400m semifinal

Aliyah Abrams is the lone Guyanese athlete left in contention at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and she has lengthened her stay in the 400M event, after she qualified, based on time, on Monday night.
Aliyah, the younger of the Abrams sisters to participate in this year’s games, was put in Heat 1 with the likes of defending Olympic Champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas.
Abrams, running out of lane 8, clocked 51.44s, her season’s best time, to finish fourth in the Heat. With the first three finishers, Miller-Uibo (50.50s), Cuba’s Roxana Gomez (50.76s) and Barbados’ Sada Williams (51.76s) automatically qualifying, the Guyanese athlete had to wait until all the Heats were completed to ascertain whether her time was among the 6 fastest ‘losers’.
Behind Abrams in the race was Canada’s Kira Constantine (51.69s), Slovakia’s Anita Horvat (52.34s) and Nigeria’s Patience Okon George (52.41s).
Favour was on her side, as her time was among the top six, handing her a spot in the semis. Thus far, Abrams is the first Guyanese athlete to have made it to the semifinal in Tokyo.
While her sister, Jasmine, was unable to make it past the first round in the Women’s 100m event, Emanuel Archibald shone in his first race in the Men’s 100M, but lost the battle when he faced off with some tough opposition in Round 1.
The semifinal is scheduled for 6.38am local time today, Wednesday, August 4th. In that race, she will again come up against Miller-Uibo, Jamaica’s Roneisha McGregor, Spain’s Aauri Bokesa, Great Britain’s Jodie Williams, USA’s Wadeline Jonathas, Netherlands’ Lieke Klaver and Poala Moran of Mexico.