Omar McLeod in the 110m hurdles at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 (© Getty Images)
The margins were such that Andrew Pozzi was only 0.02 away from reaching tomorrow night’s 110m hurdles final as a semifinal winner but the European indoor 60m hurdles champion – and a heat winner this morning – lost three places coming off the final flight of barriers, missing out on a place in the final altogether.
Barbados’ Shane Brathwaite – no relation to the 2009 world champion of the same nationality in the same event, Ryan Brathwaite – produced a timely season’s best of 13.26 to claim the win on the dip ahead of Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment in 13.27.
Olympic finalist Devon Allen was unluckier still, finishing third and an agonising 0.003 adrift of a qualifying position.
The fastest semifinal time – and both non-automatic qualifiers – came from a loaded first semifinal featuring the gold and silver medallists from the Olympics along with world champion Sergey Shubenkov. McLeod stopped the clock at 13.10 with Garfield Darien – flying the flag for France with Dimitri Bascou and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde both sidelined – pulled through in the adjacent lane to the second automatic qualifying spot in 13.17.
McLeod will be looking to add the world title to his Olympic title tomorrow but that might not be his only shot of a gold medal at these championships. “I have heard that I might run in the 4x100m relay. Let's see what happens, hopefully I will be selected,” said McLeod.
Shubenkov was exiled out in lane nine after a messy run in the heat – which led to a protest from Serbia on behalf of Milan Ristic after they were involved in some physicality – but away from the action in the middle lanes, the reigning champion only made it through as a non-automatic qualifier in 13.22 along with Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega from Spain in 13.23.
The third semifinal was decidedly less eventful as Hungary’s Balazs Baji and world record-holder Aries Merritt separated themselves from the pursuers by halfway and qualified in that order in 13.23 and 13.25 respectively.
These are heady days for European sprint hurdling with four Europeans progressing through to the final but with US champion Aleec Harris also exiting, there will be just one US finalist in the 110m hurdles for the first time in World Championships history.
Steven Mills for the IAAF
