RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Olympic Games 100m champion Elaine Thompson stayed on path to land the sprint double at Rio 2016 after she qualified for the semi-final of the women’s 100m on Monday’s Day 4 of track and field competition.
Thompson finished second to Marie-Josee Ta Lou from the Ivory Coast in heat 4 with the ninth fastest time in the event in the morning session, at 22.63.
Ta Lou ran the quickest overall time, at 22.31 secs, which was also a new personal best.
Beijing 2015 world champion Dafne Schippers from the Netherlands easily secured her place into Tuesday’s semi-final with a heat-winning performance of 22.51. Nataliya Pohrebnyak of Ukraine finished second to the Dutchwoman in a personal best time as well of 22.64.
Schippers leads the world with a time of 21.93.
Among the other heat winners in the morning session were Americans Tori Bowie (22.45) , the 100m silver medallist from Saturday night, Deajah Stevens (22.47) and Jenna Prandini (22.62).
However, Jamaica’s twice Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, who won golds at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, shockingly made an early exit, after the 34-year-old finished third in her heat in 22.97 and didn’t advance.
Michelle-Lee Ahye (22.50) of Trinidad & Tobago, Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahouré (22.52), Ivet Lalova-Collio (22.61) of Bulgaria, European champion Dina Asher-Smith (22.77) of Great Britain, Blessing Okagbare (22.71) of Nigeria and Simone Facey (22.78) of Jamaica, all booked semi-final spots.
