Pan-Am Games 2023: Aliyah Abrams finishes fifth in 400m final
- Archibald through to the 200m final
National 400m record holder Aliyah Abrams could not produce the goods for a spot on the podium in Wednesday’s 400m final at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
Heading into the final, there were high expectations she could medal, given she had the second-fastest qualifying time – 51.82s.
However, it was another extremely chilly night at the Julio Martínez Prádanos National Stadium, and Abrams had to settle for fifth.
The rain and occasional heavy wind further made the night counter-productive for fast times as she clocked 52.66 seconds, fading on the back end.
Chilean Martina Weil erupted thunderous applause in the stadium as she stormed to gold in a time of 51.48s, followed by Ecuadorian Dayci Caicedo (51.76s) and Colombian Jazim Aguilar (51.95s).
Meanwhile, Emanuel Archibald will have a chance to add to this 100m bronze when he contests the 200m final today from 20:10h.
Not his favoured event, Archibald went slower than his season best of 20.69 seconds to clock 21.08 seconds, which placed him third in semi-final 1.
However, his time was still good enough to progress as one of the two non-direct qualifiers.
Brazilian Renan Correa (20.39s) was the fastest qualifier.
Speaking after the race, an exhausted Archibald said it was not an event he was training for in recent months but opted to contest, given he was not doing the Long Jump.
He chuckled, “I will be returning to my 100m and Long Jump after this, no more 200m right now”.
Archibald (bronze) and Jasmine Abrams (silver) are the lone medallists for Guyana thus far at the Games.
Meanwhile, Archer Devin Paul managed to improve his ranking, as he was at the bottom of the 32 competitors but ascended to 29 with a cumulative of 611.
Today, Hemchandra Persaud contests Esport football from 10:00h while Leslain Baird will seek glory in the Men’s Javelin on Saturday from 18:59h to end Guyana’s campaign at the Games.
