EUGENE, Oregon (June 26) — Report from the men’s and women’s 200 meters semi-finals at the 2022 USATF Outdoor Championships on Sunday, sees Noah Lyles, Erriyon Knighton, and Fred Kerley among the qualifiers on the men’s side, and Abby Steiner and Tamara Clark led the way in the women’s category.
However, Sha’Carri Richardson again failed to make a final at these championships after finishing outside the qualifying places, while Gabby Thomas just advanced on time. Read more: Day 4 – 2022 USATF Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships order of events and how to watch
In the men’s contest world champion Noah Lyles qualified with the quickest time after cruising through his heat to win in 19.81 seconds (1.2 m/s). He was followed home by Fred Kerley, who again ran a very conservative race early and then finished strongly to clock 20.09. College star Matthew Boling of Georgia ran 20.14 secs for third place and also advanced to the final later this evening.
Meanwhile, Olympic fourth-place finisher Erriyon Knighton was also very comfortable when taking the second semi-final heat in 19.97 seconds (1.7 m/s). He defeated Josephus Lyles, who posted 20.04 secs for second place and Kyree King (20.05). Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek (20.06) and Javonte’ Harding (20.23) of North Carolina A&T were the other qualifiers.
Abby Steiner Matches World-Lead To Win Semi-Final
Abby Steiner matched her world-leading time to win her semi-final heat of the women’s 200m, clocking 21.80 seconds (0.9 m/s) with a dominating performance. The time also matched her personal best, set to smash the NCAA record earlier this month at the national championships on this same track.
Cambrea Sturgis ran 22.11 to finish second to Steiner in the first heat with Olympian Jenna Prandini also advancing with a time of 22.19 secs for third place.
The second semi-final went to Tamara Clark who took down a strong field when running 22.05 seconds to beat the likes of Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson.
In fact, Thomas, who clearly hasn’t recovered from the hamstring injury she sustain two weeks ago, was the seventh fastest qualifier after finishing fourth in her semis, while Sha’Carri Richardson ran 22.47 and didn’t make the final.
Thomas said after her race on Twitter: “This hamstring injury has really challenged me these last two weeks. Despite that, I made it to the 200m final, and I will fight to make this team and win the US a gold medal at Worlds.”
Advancing as well was the world silver medalist Brittany Brown, who ran 22.16 for second place behind Clark, with Kayla White (22.18) also getting through.
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