Cedenio in 400m semis, Portious shoots her shot

NARISSA FRASER

MACHEL Cedenio’s 2019 IAAF World Championships journey got off to a quick start yesterday morning as he won his 400m heat at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

The TT athlete clocked a time of 45.26 seconds to automatically qualify for today’s semi-finals. Jamaica’s Akeem Bloomfield placed second and South Africa’s Thapelo Phora came third.

Cedenio was part of the men’s 4x400m relay team that copped gold at the 2017 staging of the Championships, in London, with countrymen Lalonde Gordon, Jereem Richards and Jarrin Solomon. He copped another gold medal for the team relay at the IAAF World Relays in Japan in May. His season’s best is currently 44.52 seconds, with a personal best of 44.01 seconds.

He will also compete in the men’s 4x400m relay (qualifying heats),on Saturday, with Richards, Deon Lendore and Asa Gevara.

Fellow TT athlete Kyle Greaux competed in the men’s 200m final yesterday, but it ended in disappointment as he placed eighth. Noah Lyles of the US copped gold and Canada’s Andre De Grasse earned silver. Alex Quinonez of Ecuador placed third.

Kamaria Durant failed to qualify for today’s women’s 200m final after placing seventh in her semi-final heat.

Portious Warren will begin her journey as she competes in the women’s shot put qualifiers which begin at 9.45 am.

She needs to achieve a qualifying throw of 18.40m or be among the 12 top performers of the 27 athletes.

It will be her debut at the senior meet. She previously competed at the junior and youth World Championships.

Speaking with Newsday yesterday evening, she said, “I’m excited and ready to go out there and excute. I’m definitely going to give it every last thing I got.”

Cedenio will run in heat three of the 400m semis at 1.51 pm.