Women’s 400m Round 1 summary
The only surprise of the first round was the non-appearance of outdoor World Champion Cathy Freeman, although rumours of her appearance only in the relay had been circulating. In her absence, all the big hitters made it through with Germany’s Grit Breuer particularly impressive. The German paced Russian Natalya Nazarova through the first lap in 23.95, before closing with 51.13. The closest race came in heat 2, where defending champion Jearl Miles Clark held off the late surge of Nigeria’s Charity Opara and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Deon Hemmings. Clark clocked 51.80, and Hemmings sealed the other automatic qualifying spot with 52.10 – just 100th ahead of Opara. Jamaica’s Sandie Richards made sure of qualification by going off hard in the final heat and holding on for 52.40, the real race coming at the finish for second place. Falilat Ogunkoya prevailed in second – just 100th ahead of Australia’s Susan Andrews – 52.64 to 52.65.
