There were quite a few surprises in the semifinals of the men’s 400m Hurdles as several notable names failed to qualify for Thursday evening’s final; the list of the non-qualifiers reading almost like a who’s who of one-lap hurdlers.
In the first heat in which defending Olympic champion Angelo Taylor and double World champion Felix Sanchez were drawn side by side in lanes four and five respectively, the American’s jinx struck once again.
The 25-year-old champion from Sydney was level with Sanchez for the majority of the race with the Dominican just slightly quicker over the eighth hurdle. While Sanchez cruised to the finish in a comfortable 47.93 - his fourth time under 48 seconds this season - Taylor clipped the ninth hurdle and totally lost his momentum.
Although the US Trials runner-up tried as hard as he could to recover his stride pattern there was no way he was going to make one of only two automatic qualifying spots as former World Junior champion Marek Plawgo sped past him. The Polish 23-year-old equalled his three-year-old personal best 48.16 in one of his strongest races ever.
And the Polish did need such strength as fast finishing Alwyn Myburgh of South Africa was rapidly closing the gap. The 23-year-old clocked a season’s best 48.21 in third and as events unfolded eventually advanced to the final as the fastest loser.
Way behind Taylor crossed the line in a very poor 48.72 and loudly screamed “NO” as he knew his performance would not see him through the semis.
A curse seems to be pursuing Taylor as the American experienced similar misfortunes in Seville where he thought 3 athletes would qualify instead of the actual 2 and dramatically slowed down finishing a non-qualifying third in the first round and in Edmonton where he clipped the ninth hurdle in the semis.
Defending silver medallist Hadi Al Somaily was the other notable name not to quality as the Saudi finished fifth in 48.98.
There were even more surprises in the second of three semi-finals as Dai Tamesue of Japan, the last man to defeat Sanchez, Periklis Iakovakis of Greece, last year’s World bronze medallist, Llewelyn Herbert, the defending bronze medallist and Commonwealth champion Christopher Rawlinson of Great Britain all missed the cut.
Only two athletes advanced from this heat: fourth place finisher in Paris Danny McFarlane of Jamaica (48.00) and US Trials bronze medalist Bennie Brazell (48.19).
Rawlinson who was never in contention as he couldn’t handle the tight bends of the inside lane was assisted by the medical team just past the finish line as the Briton hurt his left knee and was stretched out of the track.
The last semi-final also had its share of drama although US champion James Carter was never really challenged and took the win in 48.18. Carter took a blistering start in lane four with Paris World Championships finalist Kemel Thompson deciding to follow the American’s suicidal pace.
The Jamaican held on until he entered the final straight but by then US-born Bayano Kamani of Panama and Jiri Muzik of Czech Republic were level with Thompson.
Coming off the final hurdle, Muzik was out of contention not being able to turn his speed up a notch in the run-in while Thompson, Kamani and France’s Naman Keita – who had been back in sixth coming into the home straight – desperately dipping on the line.
Reminiscent of his compatriot Marc Raquil’s devastating kick which granted the Frenchman the 400m bronze medal in Paris, Keita left it to the very last stages to kick. And his tactics paid off tonight as the photo finish read: Kamani second in 48.23, Keita third in 48.24 and Thompson fourth in 48.25.
Kamani qualified automatically with Keita, the second fastest loser of the whole field, also making it to the final.
A three-time Jamaican champion Thompson was out for one hundredth of a second!
LA
