Rio 2016 Olympic Games - Azemia breaks 400mH national record |17 August 2016

There was mixed emotions for Seychelles sprinter Ned Azemia on Monday at the Olympic Games inRio de Janeiro as he broke his own 400m hurdles Seychelles junior and national record, but he failed to progress to the semifinals.

Competing in the men’s 400m hurdles heat 3, Azemia finished eighth with a time of 50.74 seconds, erasing his own national record of 51.09 seconds set on July 9 during the National Championship at Stad Popiler.

According to the Seychelles News Agency, the 18-year-old said he is happy with his performance, although he did not make it to the next round.

“This was my fastest race ever. It's a junior national record and senior national record both, so I am happy for the record,” Azemia was quoted as saying.

He also told the Seychelles News Agency that he knew going into the race that it would be difficult to qualify for the next round, but he was nevertheless happy with his performance.

Invited by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) to compete in Rio, Azemia said his first Olympics appearance was a good experience and is hoping for a better performance should there be a next time.

This is thus the second time in less than two months that Azemia improves the record.

When he first broke the record in July, the old best time of 51.22 seconds belonging to Stephen Banane had stood for 21 years, since 1995.

In Rio, Azemia finished 43rd out of total out of 47 sprinters, above athletes from the Comoros, Kenya, Bahamas and Slovakia.

Heat 3 was won by Norway’s Karsten Warholm in 48.49 seconds, which was also the second best time in the heats, behind Jamaica’s Annsert Whyte (48.37 seconds).

Puerto Rico’s Javier Culson was second in heat 3 in 48.53 seconds, followed by Estonia’s Rasmus Ragi with a time of 48.55 seconds.

The semifinal of the event will take place today.

Meanwhile, only one Seychellois athlete is left to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and this is none other than female high jumper Lissa Labiche, who will be in action in the women’s high jump qualifying round tomorrow at the Olympic Stadium.

Below is the top five countries on the medals table as of Monday’s completed events.

              Countries         Gold   Silver Bronze        Total

1          USA               26         23        26           75

2          GBR               16         17         8           41

3          CHN              15         14        17           46

4          RUS               11         12        13          36

5          ITA                  8          9         6           23

S. N.