India’s Nirmala Sheoran failed to qualify for the women’s 400m semi-final at the Rio Olympics 2016 on Saturday. 21-year-old Nirmala, from Bhiwani district in Haryana, qualified for the Olympics after setting her personal best at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship in Hyderabad.
Starting from lane 7 in heat 1, Sheoran ran a time of 53.03 in heat 1 and finished in 6th place, and failed to qualify to the semi-finals. Her 400m time at the Olympics was slower than her personal best of 51.48 which she set to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.
If Sheoran had ran her personal best, she would have qualified from heat 1 to the semi-finals. She ranked 44th out of the 57 runners that ran the 400m heats.
Sheoran will not be heading home yet, as she is also competing in the 4 × 400 metres relay event in Rio. Sheoran will run with Tintu Lukka, Anilda Thomas, and M. R. Poovamma in the relay event, after qualifying for the Olympics with a time of 3:27.88.
Heat 1 was won by Stephenie Ann McPherson who ran a time of 51.36. The Jamaican won gold in the individual 400 metres at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. McPherson was followed closely to the finish line by Nigeria’s Patience Okon George who finished the race with a time of 51.83. Heat 1 witnessed a photo finish between 2nd placed Okon George and Australia’s Anneliese Rubie.
The top 2 from each heat qualify to the semi-finals while the next 8 fastest athletes from all heats combined also qualify to the semi-finals.
Phyllis Francis of USA ranked 1st with a time of 50.58 and was followed by two Oluwakemi Adekoya and Salwa Eid Naser, both from Bahrain.
Athletes who qualified for the semi-finals
| Rank | Country | Athlete | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA | FRANCIS Phyllis | 50.58 |
| 2 | BRN | ADEKOYA Oluwakemi | 50.72 |
| 3 | BRN | NASER Salwa Eid | 51.06 |
| 4 | BAH | MILLER Shaunae | 51.16 |
| 5 | ITA | GRENOT Libania | 51.17 |
| 6 | USA | FELIX Allyson | 51.24 |
| 7 | FRA | GUEI Floria | 51.29 |
| 8 | AUS | MITCHELL Morgan | 51.3 |
| 9 | USA | HASTINGS Natasha | 51.31 |
| 10 | JAM | MCPHERSON Stephenie Ann | 51.36 |
| 11 | GBR | OHURUOGU Christine | 51.4 |
| 11 | UKR | ZEMLYAK Olha | 51.4 |
| 13 | NGR | BAMGBOSE Margaret | 51.43 |
| 13 | GER | SPELMEYER Ruth Sophia | 51.43 |
| 15 | JAM | DAY Christine | 51.54 |
| 16 | CAN | MUIR Carline | 51.57 |
| 17 | JAM | JACKSON Shericka | 51.73 |
| 18 | GBR | DIAMOND Emily | 51.76 |
| 18 | ZAM | MUPOPO Kabange | 51.76 |
| 20 | POL | HOLUB Malgorzata | 51.8 |
| 21 | POL | SWIETY Justyna | 51.82 |
| 22 | NGR | GEORGE Patience Okon | 51.83 |
| 23 | AUS | RUBIE Anneliese | 51.92 |
| 24 | POL | WYCISZKIEWICZ Patrycja | 52.02 |
