Canadian pole vaulter Alysha Newman, in her third Summer Games appearance, will compete in an Olympic final for the first time.
Newman cleared 4.55 metres on Monday at Stade de France in Paris to qualify for Wednesday’s final.
Coming off a 45-minute sleep the previous night, the London, Ont., native missed her first attempt at 4.40 competing in Group A but made her next two jumps at 4.40 and 4.55 before the competition came to a halt. The automatic entry standard for the final was set at 4.70.
“I’m building something special,” Newman told Devin Heroux of CBC Sports. “My coaches really believe in me. Without my coaches and my family and my friends, I don’t think I would be here. I’m bringing everything to the track on Wednesday and you better look out for me because I’m ready.”
Earlier this year, the 30-year-old Newman was jumping as high as she ever had in her career indoors until suffering a Grade 2 right ankle sprain while cooling down after a training session two days before the start of competition at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Scotland. She withdrew minutes before the start of the women’s final.
Following a 12-week absence, Newman gradually regained her pre-injury form and cleared a season-best 4.76 on July 20 at London Athletics Meet in England to rank eighth in the world entering the Olympics.
WATCH | Newman into her 1st Olympic pole vault final after 4.55m clearance:
Alysha Newman qualifies for women’s pole vault final at Paris 2024
Canada’s Alysha Newman is headed to the final of the women’s pole vault after a clearance of 4.55 in the qualification round at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
All went to plan for American Katie Moon as she began her title defence on Monday, sailing over 4.55.
Moon shared world championships gold last year with Australia’s Nina Kennedy, who had a similarly easy path through qualification Monday, never knocking the bar down, three years after nagging injuries saw her crash out at the initial stage.
Greece’s Katerina Stefanidi (4.55), who won eight years ago in Rio, was also among the 20 competitors to progress. But it was a tough morning for Britain as its gold medal hope, Molly Caudery, was unable to clear her opening height of 4.55 after setting a national record and world lead of 4.92 in June.
“Totally heartbreaking, so sorry for everyone at home. I’ll try to learn from it. I felt great. I am in best shape of my life,” the indoor champion said while crying. “I don’t know what happened. I’ll talk to my coach.”
Texas-born and Saskatoon-raised Anicka Newell was the other Canadian in Monday’s qualification. Competing in Group B, she was knocked out of her third Olympic competition following three missed attempts at 4.55. Earlier, she needed a third try to advance past 4.40 after posting a 4.63 season best on Feb 22, San Marcos, Texas.
The 30-year-old qualified for Paris five weeks ago with second-place finish (4.38) at trials in Montreal, but her path to these Games wasn’t smooth as she had to recover from an Achilles injury earlier in the year.
In the 2021 Olympic final, which fell on Newell’s 28th birthday, she recorded a no-height after missing all three attempts at 4.50.
Sprinters Sherar, Gale to 200m repechage
Two Canadian sprinters will need to rely on Tuesday’s repechage round (5:20 a.m.) in hopes of securing a spot in the women’s 400 semifinals on Wednesday.
Toronto’s Zoe Sherar was 36th overall (51.97) and seven spots ahead of Ottawa native Lauren Gale (53.13). The top three in each of the six heats automatically qualified for the semifinals.
Both women fell short of their respective personal bests of 50.79 and 50.47.
In her first Olympic race, Sherar admitted to feeling nervous running on the track at the 77,000-seat Stade de France.
“[Nerves] are to be expected in a stadium like this,” she told Heroux. “I feel I could have done a better job [on the turns] but looking forward to [Tuesday’s repechage round] for sure.
“I’m really confident in my physical capabilities. I think getting the nerves out today will be really helpful [and] tomorrow I’m ready to rock.”
Other events Monday include men’s and women’s 400 hurdles, women’s 200 repechage, men’s 400 repechage, and men’s discus preliminaries.
Source link : https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/athletics/track/canada-olympics-athletics-august-5-1.7285165
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Publish date : 2024-08-05 09:39:55
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