Aliyah Abrams will try again today for a spot in the Women’s 400M semifinal
Guyana’s Aaliyah Abrams will get another shot at securing a place in the Women’s 400M semifinal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the repechage round, following a fifth- place finish in her Heat on Monday morning.
Abrams clocked 51.55s for fifth place in the Heat, which was won by World Champion over the quarter mile, Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino in 49.42s.
United States’ Aaliyah Butler and Austria’s Susanne Gogl-Walli were the other two to secure the automatic spots from that race in 50.52s and 50.67s respectively.
Though missing out on the automatic qualification, Abrams will compete in the repechage round today, in Heat one at 05:20hrs this morning.
A newly introduced feature for the Paris games, the term ‘repechage’ is a French term which can translate to ‘second chance’. Utilized in other sports like rowing or fencing, The recently introduced ‘second chance’ round gives eliminated athletes another shot at making a semifinal or final stage.
Aliyah Abrams (Second from right) coming down the back straight during the Women’s 400M Heat 5 at the Paris Olympics
Back in 2022, World Athletics approved the repechage round for the Paris Games in individual track events, moving the number of rounds in an event from three (Round 1/Heat, Semifinal, Final) to four (Round 1/ Heat, Repechage Round, Semifinal, Final).
Individual events such as the Men’s and Women’s 200M, 400M, 800M, 1500M and hurdles (100MH, 110MH and 400MH) will see athletes getting another round to make a case for themselves in the semifinals.
Abrams would need a win or one of the next two fastest times – outside of the race winners – to advance to Wednesday’s semis. The Women’s 400M semifinals are also scheduled to be run off on Wednesday from 14:45hrs.
Abrams is in a 5-member contingent representing Guyana at the Paris Olympics.
