Ahye misses out on 60m final at World Indoor Champs

TRINIDAD and Tobago's ace female sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye could only manage a semifinal finish when she contested the women’s 60-metre event at the World Indoor Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China on March 22.

The 32-year-old Ahye ran in the fifth of six heats, and her time of 7.28 seconds earned her fifth spot in the heat and saw her progress to the semifinals as one of the fastest non-automatic qualifiers. Ahye’s heat was won by Poland’s Ewa Swoboda (7.16), with China’s Xiaojing Liang (7.17) finishing second with a personal best clocking.

Jamaica’s Natasha Morrison was third in 7.20, with Switzerland’s Geraldine Frey (7.26) also progressing as one of six non-automatic qualifiers.

Ahye’s time was the second-slowest of those who advanced from the heats, and her time of 7.31 wasn’t enough for her to progress from the first semifinal as she recorded a sixth-place finish. Italy’s Zaynab Dosso won the first semi in 7.07, with Britain’s Amy Hunt (7.15) and Liang (7.17) finishing second and third respectively.

Dosso was the quickest athlete through the first two rounds of qualifying, but her time of 7.06 only earned her second spot in the final as Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji sped away to take the gold medal in 7.04. For Kambundji, it was her second 60m world indoor title, as she also copped the crown in Belgrade in 2022.

TT’s participation at the games was scheduled to continue from 10.19 pm on March 22, with Tyra Gittens-Spotsville set to face 12 competitors in the women’s long jump final. Gittens-Spotsville has a season’s best jump of 6.57m, ranking 11th among the other finalists this season.