Tokyo: Dutee Chand’s quest for a Tokyo Olympics medal went up in smoke as she failed to qualify for the semifinals in the women’s 200m at the Olympic Stadium on Monday. Earlier, Dutee bowed out in the women’s 100m heats.
Running in lane 2 in Heat 4, Dutee clocked her season’s best of 23.85s but that wasn’t enough to take her to the next round finishing at lowly seventh. She was nowhere near her personal best of 23.00 seconds.
Namibia’s Christine Mboma (22.11s) won the Heat 4 while second place went to American Gabrielle Thomas (21.20s). Niger’s Aminatou Seyni took the final qualifying place in 22.72s. The top three runners in each heat qualify for the semifinals and the next three fastest (all seven heats combined) also advanced to the last four.
The 25-year-old, who broke her own National Record in Patiala last month with 11.17s, had qualified for Tokyo Olympics on the basis of World Rankings.
