Championships’ 100m semifinal

GUYANA’s Emanuel Archibald, who ran earlier yesterday morning to progress to the heats, successfully went one step further as he booked his spot in today’s semi-finals of the 2023 World Championships men’s 100m event.

Archibald finished joint third with a time of 10.20s, along with Japan’s Hiroki Yanagita, behind South Africa’s Akani Simbine, who won the final heat in 9.97s, just edging American Cristian Coleman (9.98s).

There were no surprises, as Jamaica’s trio of Oblique Seville, Rohan Watson and Ryiem Forde all secured their spot in the men’s 100 metres semi-finals after safely navigating their respective heats during yesterday’s opening day of the World Athletic Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

After a series of delays and false starts, Seville ran a comfortable race from lane seven in heat five and stopped the clock in 9.86s to be the fastest qualifier. Gold medal favourite, American Fred Kerley, cruised to 9.99s in that heat.

Jamaica’s national champion Watson recovered from a slight stumble at the start to place second in the following heat.
He clocked 10.11s, behind Japan’s Sani Brown, who clocked a season’s best 10.07s, with Italy’s Olympic Champion Lamonth Jacobs, also finishing in a season’s best 10.15s, as he continues to work his way back to form.

Earlier, another Jamaican, Forde, also comfortably secured his spot, clocking 10.01s for second behind Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, who clocked a flat 10.00s in winning heat one.
Joint favourite Noah Lyles was the second fastest in qualifying, as he stormed to 9.95s in heat two, with the powerfully built Kenyan, Ferdinand Omanyala, (9.97s), joining him.
Heat four was won by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in 10.11s.