Athletics-Henriette finishes way off own Seychelles 200m record |06 September 2011

Running in lane three of heat number four last Friday in Daegu, South Korea, Henriette clocked 21.83 seconds and did not qualify for the second round.

Henriette left for Daegu feeling in great shape after smashing Neddy Marie’s three-month-old 200m record of 21.60 seconds with a time of 21.42 seconds on Saturday August 13 at the recent Indian Ocean Island Games here to win the silver medal behind Mauritian gold medallist Fabrice Coiffic (21.19 seconds).

French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre won the fourth heat in 20.51 seconds and went on to take the bronze medal in the final with a new French record of 19.80 seconds.

Jamaican world record holder Usain Bolt defended his 200m title in 19.40 seconds – the fourth-fastest time in history.

American Walter Dix was the silver medallist again just as in the 100m, some three metres adrift with 19.70?seconds.

The other Seychellois who competed in Daegu was female sprinter Joanne Lou Toy who got a 100 metre personal best (PB) of 12.29 seconds in the preliminaries to progress to the second round.

Mixing  with the best in the world who were lining up in the blocks for the first time in the competition, Lou Toy stopped the clock at 12.35 seconds in the second round – a time not good enough to earn her qualification to the semifinals.

American sprinter Carmelita Jeter won the 100m gold medal with 10.90 seconds despite running into a -1.4 m/headwind.

Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown took the silver in 10.97 seconds and Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago picked up the bronze in 10.98 seconds. Defending champion Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce was fourth in 10.99 seconds.
The two Seychellois athletes were accompanied by coach Joseph Adam.

G. G.