World U-20 | Oakley progresses to women’s 400m final

Jamaica’s Dejanea Oakley, on Wednesday, advanced to the final of the women’s 400 metres at the World Under-20 Championships at thePascual Guerrero Olympic Stadium in Cali, Colombia.

Oakley placed second in heat two of the semi-finals as the island’s second athlete in the event, Rickianna Russell, finished heat three, sixth and failed to progress.

In heat two of the semi-finals Oakley, running in lane six, went out hard and wiped away the stagger of her opponents in lanes seven andeight after 100 metres to claim a huge lead on the backstretch. She, however, started to tire at the 200 metres mark and was caught by several athletes at the top of the home stretch.

She duelled stoutly to maintain a slight advantage although being challenged by Norway’s Henriette Jaeger with approximately 50 metres left,as India’s Rupal came through quickly in the final 10 metres to nip Oakley on the line.

Rupal was timed in a personal best of 52.27 seconds with Oakley doing 52.29 as they claimed the two automatic spots that qualify for the final from that semi-final. The two qualifiers on time came from this semi-final, also, as Jaeger ran a national Under-20 record of 52.33 seconds with Australia’s Elle Beer finishing fourth in season best of 52.55.

In the semi-finals heat three, Russell was never among the leaders and ended in 54.44 as Spain’s Berta Segura won in 52.51 with SouthAfrica’s Precious Molepo getting second in 53.28.

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