Namibian sprinter Christine Mboma twice broke Allyson Felix’s under-20 world and Olympic record as she reached Tuesday’s final of the women’s 200m on day ten of the Tokyo Olympics.
Her compatriot Beatrice Masilingi twice set a personal best to progress as well, both athletes were forced to withdraw from their preferred 400m heats when they were ruled in July to have high levels of testosterone.
Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou will have another chance to win an Olympic medal as she also reached the 200m final.
Wrestler Blessing Oborududu secured Nigeria’s first medal of the Games by reaching Tueday’s final of the women’s 68kg freestyle event.
Late on Sunday there was good news for Botswana’s 2012 silver medallist Nijel Amos when he was reinstated into Wednesday’s final of the men’s 800m after he fell in his semi-final.
Athletics afternoon session
Namibia’s Christine Mboma reached Tuesday’s final by breaking the under-20 world record for the second time in one day as she finished second in her semi-final of the women’s 200m behind Jamaica’s defending Olympic champions Elaine Thompson-Herah.
Mboma became the first under-20 athlete to run under 21 seconds as he lowered her own record to 21.97 seconds
The Gambia’s Gina Bass’ time of 22.67 in fourth place in the same semi-final was not fast enough for her to progress as a fastest loser.
Moments earlier Namibia’s Beatrice Masilingi set her second personal best of the day as she finished second behind the former Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica in her semi-final, both qualified automatically for the final.
Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Ivory Coast won the third semi-final to join the two Namibians in the final.
Nigeria’s Grace Nzubechi Nwokocha finished fourth in a new personal best and Niger’s Aminatou Seyni set a new national record in fifth in the last semi-final but neither was quick enough to progress.
Athletics morning session
Mboma had broken the under-20 world and Olympic record for the first time earlier on Monday in her heat of the women’s 200m.
The 18-year-old’s time of 22.11 seconds eclipsed the time set by the USA’s six-time Olympic champion Allyson Felix, as she won silver at the Athens Games in 2004.
Her compatriot Beatrice Masilingi also set a personal best to progress to the semi-finals, along with Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou, Niger’s Aminatou Seyni, The Gambia’s Gina Bass and Nigeria’s Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha.
Both Mboma and Masilingi were informed in July by World Athletics that their testosterone levels were beyond the allowed limit for female athletes wanting to run their preferred distance of 400m unless they medically lower their testosterone for a period of at least six months.
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan became the third African to finish just outside the medals in a sprint event in Tokyo as she finished fourth in the women’s 100m hurdles final. The race was won by Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.
Ivory Coast’s Ta Lou and South Africa’s Akani Simbine both finished just outside the medals in the women’s and men’s 100m finals respectively.
In the women’s 1500m reigning Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon started her title defence by sailing through to Wednesday’s semi-finals with a comfortable win in her heat.
“It was hot today and at least I made it to semi-finals. We used a lot of ice because it was hot and we had to stay in normal temperatures, going to the track it was better it was not like we were warming up,” she said after her race.
Uganda’s Winnie Nanyondo finished second behind Kipyegon to progress along with two more Kenyans – Winny Chebet and Edinah Jebito – as well as Ethiopia’s Lemlem Hailu and Freweyni Gebreezibeher.
Jebito was awarded a place in the semi-finals despite finishing 12th in her heat after she fell alongside Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan, who managed to recover and win the heat.
In the men’s hammer Egypt’s Mostafa Elgamel failed to progress to the final after a managed a throw of 72.76m.
Wrestling
Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu beat Mongolia’s Battsetseg Soronzonbold in the semi-finals of the women’s 68kg freestyle event to secure at least a silver medal, the first for her country at the Tokyo Games.
She will face Tamyra Marianna Stock Mensah in Tuesday’s to decide who wins gold. It will also be Nigeria’s first ever Olmypic wrestling medal.
Basketball
Nigeria women’s campaign came to and end with a third straight defeat this time losing 102-13 to hosts Japan.
The Nigerians, who also lost to the USA and France, finish bottom of Group B
Source: BBC
