Trinidad and Tobago's Leah Bertrand misses World U-20 Champs 100m final

TRINIDAD and Tobago track and field athlete Leah Bertrand did not manage to get past the semifinal round of the women’s 100-metre event at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday.

Running in semifinal three, Bertrand finished fourth in 11.80 seconds – 15th overall, which was not enough for her to advance to the finals.

Praise Ofoku of Nigeria won the third semifinal in 11.57 and Eva Kubickova of Czech Republic was second in 11.64 in a season’s best time to grab the next automatic qualification spot. The top two in each of the three semifinals advanced automatically to the finals, plus the next two fastest times.

Earlier in the heats, Bertrand booked a place in the semifinals after finishing second in heat five in 11.88. Ivana Ilic of Serbia won the heat in 11.75. The first four in each of the five heats plus the next four fastest progressed to the semifinals.

On Thursday, Dillon Leacock will run in the men’s 400m hurdles heats from 2.25 am.

On Friday, Shakeem McKay will be the last TT athlete to compete. His World Under-20 experience will begin at 4.40 am in the men’s 200m heats.

The meet was carded to start on Tuesday, but because of logistical challenges caused by covid19 it was delayed. It will still end on Sunday as originally scheduled.

TT has won 17 medals in the history of the event – eight gold, two silver and seven bronze.