BEIJING, China – Veronica Campbell-Brown shockingly drifted into the wrong lane during her heat of the women’s 200m at the IAAF World Championships on Wednesday.
The Jamaica ran a superb first 100m to open up a big gap as she comes off the bend, but then drifted all the way over into the lane of Great Britain’s Margaret Adeoye and could have been disqualified from the championships.
Campbell-Brown didn’t realise her mistake until she crossed the finish line and the expression on her face showed it all, as she knew she could have been in big trouble.
However, at the moment, the IAAF results page is still showing her as the heat winner with a time of 22.79 seconds and she is expected to progress to the semi-final, as the rule book suggests that once she didn’t impede any of her competitors in the home straight, she will not be DQed.
Adeoye, who was in the lane Campbell-Brown drifted into, finished third in the heat in 23.10 secs and qualified for the semi-final as well.
The 2008 Olympic Games gold medalist is seen as one of the favourites to win the gold medal on her return to the Bird’s Nest and will need to be a lot more careful in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith produced a stunning 22.22 seconds personal best to win her heat and came close to breaking the British record.
“I didn’t expect to be running a PB in the heat, but I’ll take a PB,” a smiling Asher-Smith told BBC Sports after her heat winning performance.
Elsewhere, 100m world silver medallist Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands qualified third fastest from the heats with an effortless 22.58 secs and will certainly be one of the sprinters to watch as the event moves along.
Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson, the training partner of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, jog home in 22.78 secs and she has a lot more in the tank.
The world championships 200m event is without Jamaica’s defending champion Fraser-Pryce and Allyson Felix of USA.
