The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SHAUNAE Miller-Uibo had to power back for a second place finish in her heat of the women’s 200 metres to advance to the final, but Anthonique Strachan’s third place comeback effort in her heat wasn’t enough for her to move on.

The two competitors came back on Monday to complete the preliminaries of the 200m at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan – setting up the stage for Wednesday’s showdown.

Miller-Uibo, changing her hairstyle to aqua, came out slow from the blocks and tried to make up the real estate on the home stretch. But Marie-Josee Tan Lou had done enough work out front to hold on for the win in her season’s best of 22.11.

The 27-year-old Miller-Uibo, looking for her first Olympic medal in the 200m to go along with the 400m gold she won in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, had to settle for second in 22.14 and sixth place overall.

Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundi got third in 22.26 to tie her national record and eliminate Strachan from getting one of the two fastest losing times to get into the final.

Running out of lane sandwiched between Namibia’s new national record holder Beatrice Masilingi in four and Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in six in the first of three heats, Strachan had to turn up the heat on the home stretch to snatch third place in her season’s best of 22.56, the same time as Australia’s Riley Day.

Fraser-Pryce, coming off her silver medal performance in the 100m final, won the heat in 22.13, while Masilingi took second in a personal best of 22.40. Strachan ended up 11th overall and out of a lane in the final.

The 27-year-old Strachan returned for her second race at the games after winning her heat comfortably in her season’s best of 22.76. She had to endure a runoff with Grand Bahamian Brianne Bethel to earn her third straight berth in the event.

Now training in Jamaica with Olympic 100m gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah, Strachan had a serious of injuries that hampered her progress after she emerged on the scene in 2012 in London, England as a semi-finalist. She didn’t advance out of the first round in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.

Thompson-Herah won the second heat in a personal best of 21.66 as she ran away from a field that included American Gabrielle Thomas, the world’s leader coming into the games, and had to settle for third in 22.01. Christine Mboma got the second automatic qualifying spot in a world under-20 Olympic record of 21.97.

The 27-year-old Miller-Uibo ran out of lane five in the third and final heat. Next to her was American Anavia Battle in four and Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou in six.

Miller-Uibo won the Olympic gold in the 400m in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro after she had an unsuccessful debut in London in 2012 when she didn’t finish the 400m.

She has a lifetime best of 21.74 for the national record and 22.03 for her season’s best.