BUDAPEST, Hungary (August 19) — Jamaican sprinter Oblique Seville clocked 9.86 seconds during the opening day of the 2023 World Athletics Championships, matching his personal best and securing the top spot as the highest qualifier from the men’s 100m heats here in Budapest on Saturday.
Despite grappling with a back injury that affected his performance at the Jamaica Track and Field Championships last month, the 22-year-old Seville has made a commendable recovery and he’s looking forward to running even faster. – Read more: Women’s 10,000m Start list: Sifan Hassan and Letesenbet Gidey battle for world title
After several delays, which included a timing issue, a false start from Favor Ashe and crowd disturbance, Seville was able to keep his nerves and stay focus en route to punching his ticket into the semifinal round.
The Jamaican heads into these championships in promising form and his coach Glen Mills, who also trains the current world leader, Zharnel Hughes, remains optimistic about his podium prospects, especially given Seville’s fourth-place finish at the previous championships in Oregon in 2022.
Noah Lyles Also Advances
Reigning world champion Fred Kerley of the USA trailed Seville in the fifth of the seven heats, securing the second spot with a time of 9.99 seconds.
Another standout performance came from two-time 200m world champion Noah Lyles of the USA. Lyles clinched victory in his heat, clocking an impressive 9.95 seconds, narrowly edging out Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, who finished with 9.97 seconds.
The men’s 100m heats also saw commendable performances from other sprinting heavyweights.
Great Britain’s world leader Zharnel Hughes needed to use all of his experience to comeback from a very poor start to finished with 10.00 seconds to win heat one, while South Africa’s Akani Simbine clocked 9.97 to win heat seven ahead of USA’s Christian Coleman, who was second in 9.98.
Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo rounded off the notable qualifiers with a time of 10.11 seconds.
Elsewhere, US champion Cravont Charleston failed to advance after he was only fifth in his heat in 10.18, while Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs just made it through to the next round with10.15 for third in his heat.
A total of six runners broke the 10 seconds barrier in the men’s 100m heats on Saturday’s first day here at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.
The semifinals and final will take place on Sunday, 20 August.
Click here for the men’s 100m World Athletics dedicated event page.
PHOTO: Oblique Seville of Jamaica in the men’s 100m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Men’s 100m Results – First Round Heats
Heat 1 Results
1 Zharnel HUGHES GBR 10.00 Q
2 Ryiem FORDE JAM 10.01 Q
3 Seye OGUNLEWE NGR 10.07 Q
4 Dominik KOPEĆ POL 10.12 q
5 Hassan TAFTIAN IRI 10.17
6 Tiaan WHELPTON NZL 10.26
7 Favoris MUZRAPOV TJK 10.99
8 Arthur CISSÉ CIV 11.58
Heat 2 Results
P ATHLETE NAT MARK
1 Noah LYLES USA 9.95 Q
2 Ferdinand OMANYALA KEN 9.97 Q
3 Usheoritse ITSEKIRI NGR 10.17 Q
4 Samuele CECCARELLI ITA 10.26
5 Jerome BLAKE CAN 10.29
6 Emmanuel ESEME CMR 10.41
7 Jake DORAN AUS 10.48
8 Kin Wa CHAN MAC 10.83
Heat 3 Results
P ATHLETE NAT MARK
1 Raphael BOUJU NED 10.09 Q
2 Eugene AMO-DADZIE GBR 10.10 Q
3 Emmanuel MATADI LBR 10.13 Q
4 BenjaminRICHARDSON RSA 10.17
5 CravontCHARLESTON USA 10.18
6 Felipe BARDI BRA 10.25
7 Ján VOLKO SVK 10.25
8 Onisio PEREIA MOZ 11.09
Heat 4 Results
P ATHLETE NAT MARK
1 Letsile TEBOGO BOT 10.11 Q
2 Rohan BROWNING AUS 10.11 Q
3 Reece PRESCOD GBR 10.14 Q
4 ShaunMASWANGANYI RSA 10.21
5 Ryuichiro SAKAI JPN 10.22
6 Cejhae GREENE ANT 10.23
7 Muhd Azeem FAHMI MAS 10.26
8 Bence BOROS HUN 10.7
Heat 5 Results
P ATHLETE NAT MARK
1 Oblique SEVILLE JAM 9.86 Q=PB
2 Fred KERLEY USA 9.99 Q
3 Henrik LARSSON SWE 10.16 Q
4 Mouhamadou FALL FRA 10.19
5 Ebrahima CAMARA GAM 10.2
6 Paulo André CAMILO BRA 10.25
7 Brandon JONES BIZ 10.95
Favour Oghene Tejiri ASHE NGR DQ – TR16.8
Heat 6 Results
P ATHLETE NAT MARK
1 Abdul Hakim SANI BROWN JPN 10.07 QSB
2 Rohan WATSON JAM 10.11 Q
3 Lamont Marcell JACOBS ITA 10.15 QSB
4 Brendon RODNEY CAN 10.16 q
5 Rikkoi BRATHWAITE IVB 10.18
6 Terrence JONES BAH 10.32
7 Imranur RAHMAN BAN 10.41
8 Ronal LONGA COL 11.31
Heat 7 Results
P ATHLETE NAT MARK
1 Akani SIMBINE RSA 9.97 Q
2 Christian COLEMAN USA 9.98 Q
3 Hiroki YANAGITA JPN 10.20 Q
3 Emanuel ARCHIBALD GUY 10.20 Q
5 Julian WAGNER GER 10.31
6 Erik CARDOSO BRA 10.36
7 Markus FUCHS AUT 10.43
8 Joseph GREEN GUM 10.91
