One lucky athlete !
16-year-old sprinter Darina McDermott travelled to Buenos Aires with the Kiribati team for the 3rd. Youth Summer Olympic Games. With a PB of 14.3 for the 100m. she ran in Heat 5 (of 5) in "Stage 1" of the W100m. on October 12th. At the start she had an excellent reaction time of 0.131 but a strong headwind of -1.8 affected all the girls' performances. She finished 7th. of the 8 runners in 14.87.
The headline "One lucky athlete" was used because it was on Sept. 4th. (only a month in advance of the competition) that the IAAF confirmed that Darina had been given a "Universality Place" in this event. In all the sports at the YOG, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has the discretion to enable unqualified athletes to compete.
An unusual format for the Athletics requires all the athletes to COMPETE TWICE in their event, the result being a combination of both trials ! Thus there is a "Stage 2". In Stage 2 of the W100m. Darina ran in Heat 1 of 4. (These Heats were composed in reverse order of Stage 1 ranking, with slowest in Heat 1 and fastest - for medals - in Heat 4.) She made a huge improvement, finishing 4th. (of five) in 14.19. This was also a genuine PB ! She should be pleased and proud !
Last Modified on 16/10/2018 08:15