Reigning World Junior 200m Champion, Ofonime Odiong of Bahrain created one of the upsets on Day 4 of Athletics events at the ongoing Rio Olympic Games, racing to a Personal Best (PB) and National Record (NR) of 22.74s to win Heat 9, and thus qualifying for the women’s 200m semifinals.
The 19-year old who ran from Lane 3, had a very strong start and maintained the pace in the last 100m, to take the victory ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s Semoy Hackett who clocked 22.78s, while 2015 World 200m Bronze medallist, Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown was a distant 3rd in 22.97s.
Odiong will be be hoping to run a faster time in the semis, where she has been grouped in a stacked field that includes Olympic 100m Silver medallist, Tori Bowie, African 100m Record holder, Murielle Ahoure, Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle Lee-Ahye and Canada’s Crystal Emmanuel.
If she succeeds in her quest of getting a final spot, she’ll become Bahrain’s first female athlete to get to the 200m final in the history of the Olympics.
