 US vows to get a grip
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-23 10:30
All the usual suspects will be in tonight's 4x400 relays for both men and women. The UK ran the fastest time in the men's preliminaries while the US earned the top spot among the women. But yesterday's qualifiers were just a prelude for tonight's main events. The US, Russia and Belgium qualified for the men's 4x400 relay during the first heat of yesterday's qualifiers. America raced in at 2 min 59.98 sec while the Russian team finished at 3:00.14. The UK ran the fastest time of 2:59.33 in the second heat. Second-place Bahamas also ran marginally faster times than the US and qualified alongside Jamaica. Australia narrowly qualified. Fast women The US restored some pride last night during the women's 4x400 relay preliminary heats, running the fastest times ahead of the finals tonight. Both the US men's and the women's 4x100 teams were disqualified after dropping the baton. The United States and Jamaica are clearly favored in tonight's 4x400 women's relay after running the fastest times during the preliminary heats yesterday. The UK team, anchored by the 400m gold medalist, is also a strong contender for the gold. The US team of Mary Wineberg, Monique Henderson, Natasha Hastings and Sanya Richards ran a 3:22.45, finishing just 0.15 sec ahead of the Jamaican team. Belarus came in just a hair after Jamaica while the Nigerian team, the fourth to qualify in the heat, was almost a second and a half behind the leaders. Two heats were run yesterday at the Bird's Nest and Russia took the lead in the other. Qualifying with the Russians were Cuba and Great Britain. Usually favored, the UK team came in third place in its heat at 3:25.48 hours after announcing that Lee McConnell would not be able to run due to injury. Christine Ohoruogu, winner of the 400m sprint, ran the final leg for the UK team that came in third for an automatic spot in the final tomorrow. Ohoruogu looked happy to run the race without too much effort but had to lunge at the finish line to avoid losing that spot to Germany. Agencies (China Daily 08/23/2008 page20) |
