India saw another track and field athlete failing to qualify for the semi-finals of their respective event at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games as Tintu Lukka failed to progress in the women’s 800m. The 27-year old runner was placed in Heat 3 ahead of the commencement of the Round 1 from which a total of 24 athletes were to qualify for the semifinals of the event. Lukka could only finish her heat at the 6th spot with a timing of 2:00.58 which was not enough for her to finish in the top-2 sprinters from her heat or even as one of the 8 fastest losers at the event held at the Olympic Stadium in Rio.
The Indian was in Heat 3 which also had sprinters such as Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay, Australia’s Selma Kajan, Switzerland’s Selina Buchel, Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan along with three other sprinters. Each heat had a total of eight sprinters who were looking to finish as one of the two fastest in their heat in order to qualify. Tintu Lukka was never considered as the favourite to land a spot in the semi-finals and her performance proved it.
The 27-year old ended the sprint in 6th spot in her heat with a timing of 2:00.58. She could not manage to pull off a spot even as a fastest loser and was hence eliminated. It was Selina Buchel who finished the heat at the top with an impressive timing of 1:59.00. Kenya’s Margaret Nyairera Wambui finished at the second spot with a timing of 1:59.66 which saw her qualify for the semifinals comfortably.
Lukka started the race in lane 7 and could never surge ahead of her competitors but came back strongly to beat Australia’s Selma Kajan and Tsepang Sello, who finished seventh and eighth respectively in Heat 3. However, it proved to an excellent performance from the Indian who saw herself achieve her season best timing in Rio. In other heats, it was Belarus’ Marina Azamasova from Heat 4 who finished second in the overall rankings with a timing of 1:58.44, while the top spot was occupied by Heat 4’s winner, Melissa Bishop from Canada who had a timing of 1:58.38.
The event saw 24 athletes progress to the next round which will be the semi-final that will be held on 19th August at 5:45 AM IST.
Here is the list of the 24 athletes who have qualified for the semi-finals of the Women’s 800m sprint:
Melissa Bishop – 1:58.38
Marina Arzamasova – 1:58.44
Habitam Alemu – 1:58.99
Selina Buchel – 1:59.00
Noelie Yarigo – 1:59.12
Caster Semenya – 1:59.31
Ajee Wilson – 1:59.44
Margaret Nyairera Wambui – 1:59.66
Shelayna Oskan-Clarke – 1:59.67
Halimah Nakaayi – 1:59.78
Natalia Pryshchepa – 1:59.80
Eunice Jepkoech Sum – 1:59.83
Francine Niyonsaba – 1:59.84
Natalia Lupu – 1:59.91
Chunyu Wang – 1:59.93
Kate Grace – 1:59.96
Renee Eykens – 2:00.00
Lovisa Lindh – 2:00.04
Angelika Cichocka – 2:00.42
Yusneysi Santiusti – 2:00.45
Lynsey Sharp – 2:00.83
Amela Terzic – 2:00.99
Joanna Jozwik – 2:01.58
Winny Chebet – 2:01.65
