Dutee Chand failed to impress in 60m dash event at the Belgrade World Indoor Championships

India’s ace sprinter Dutee Chand crashed out of the Belgrade World Indoor Championships as she failed to impress in the preliminary round of the women’s 60-meter heats on Friday.

While the 60m races are only organized during indoor competitions, the 100m is the shortest sprint event during outdoor track and field competitions.

Dutee Chand clocked 7.35 seconds to finish sixth in her heats. While the top three finishers in each of the six heats got an automatic berth for the semis, the six-fastest runners also entered the semi-final stage of the 60m dash.

Dutee’s personal best in the 60m dash was the 7.28 seconds clocked at the 2016 Asian Indoor in Doha.

In a highly competitive field, the Indian sprinter was overall 30th out of 46 competitors spread out in six heats. While the majority of the athletes reached the Belgrade World Indoor Championships with a few indoor races under their belt, Dutee Chand was included in the national team at the eleventh hour.

Mikiah Brisco of the USA was the fastest amongst the 24 athletes who qualified for the semis. Mikiah's time in the heats was 7.03 seconds.

Poland’s Ewa Swoboda, the fastest runner this season with a time of 6.99 seconds, comfortably won her heats to enter the second round. Ewa clocked 7.10 seconds in her heats.

Dutee’s lack of preparedness for the 60m dash was quite apparent during Friday morning's session at the Belgrade World Indoor Championships.

Since there was no opportunity to compete indoors due to the pandemic, the Odisha World University Games 100m champion started her outdoor competition later than most. Earlier in February, she won gold at the All India Inter-University Athletics Championships held in Bhubaneswar.

Dutee Chand also missed the chance to compete at the Asian Indoor Championships as it was postponed due to the pandemic. After the competition in Bhubaneswar, Dutee is all set to compete in the 100m dash in the second leg of the Indian Grand Prix scheduled for March 23.

Three Indian athletes are competing in Belgrade. While Dutee got wild card entry in the 60m dash, India’s long jumper M Sreeshankar and shot putter Tejinderpal Singh Toor were selected on the basis of their position on the Road to Belgrade 2022 ranking list.

Looking at the positive aspects of competing in Belgrade, Dutee Chand's coach N Ramesh said that the performance of 7.35 seconds in the 60m dash will enable Dutee to work on her flaws. Ramesh said:

“Our main goal is to peak later this year for the Commonwealth and Asian Games."