Rio Olympics 2016, Athletics: Nirmala Sheoran fails to qualify for 400m semi-finals

India’s Nirmala Sheoran failed to qualify for the women’s 400m semi-final at the Rio Olympics 2016 on Saturday. 21-year-old Nirmala, from Bhiwani district in Haryana, qualified for the Olympics after setting her personal best at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship in Hyderabad.

Starting from lane 7 in heat 1, Sheoran ran a time of 53.03 in heat 1 and finished in 6th place, and failed to qualify to the semi-finals. Her 400m time at the Olympics was slower than her personal best of 51.48 which she set to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.

If Sheoran had ran her personal best, she would have qualified from heat 1 to the semi-finals. She ranked 44th out of the 57 runners that ran the 400m heats.

Sheoran will not be heading home yet, as she is also competing in the 4 × 400 metres relay event in Rio. Sheoran will run with Tintu Lukka, Anilda Thomas, and M. R. Poovamma in the relay event, after qualifying for the Olympics with a time of 3:27.88.

Heat 1 was won by Stephenie Ann McPherson who ran a time of 51.36. The Jamaican won gold in the individual 400 metres at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. McPherson was followed closely to the finish line by Nigeria’s Patience Okon George who finished the race with a time of 51.83. Heat 1 witnessed a photo finish between 2nd placed Okon George and Australia’s Anneliese Rubie.

Phyllis Francis was the fastest of all

The top 2 from each heat qualify to the semi-finals while the next 8 fastest athletes from all heats combined also qualify to the semi-finals.

Phyllis Francis of USA ranked 1st with a time of 50.58 and was followed by two Oluwakemi Adekoya and Salwa Eid Naser, both from Bahrain.

Athletes who qualified for the semi-finals

Rank	Country	Athlete	RESULT
1	USA	FRANCIS Phyllis	50.58
2	BRN	ADEKOYA Oluwakemi	50.72
3	BRN	NASER Salwa Eid	51.06
4	BAH	MILLER Shaunae	51.16
5	ITA	GRENOT Libania	51.17
6	USA	FELIX Allyson	51.24
7	FRA	GUEI Floria	51.29
8	AUS	MITCHELL Morgan	51.3
9	USA	HASTINGS Natasha	51.31
10	JAM	MCPHERSON Stephenie Ann	51.36
11	GBR	OHURUOGU Christine	51.4
11	UKR	ZEMLYAK Olha	51.4
13	NGR	BAMGBOSE Margaret	51.43
13	GER	SPELMEYER Ruth Sophia	51.43
15	JAM	DAY Christine	51.54
16	CAN	MUIR Carline	51.57
17	JAM	JACKSON Shericka	51.73
18	GBR	DIAMOND Emily	51.76
18	ZAM	MUPOPO Kabange	51.76
20	POL	HOLUB Malgorzata	51.8
21	POL	SWIETY Justyna	51.82
22	NGR	GEORGE Patience Okon	51.83
23	AUS	RUBIE Anneliese	51.92
24	POL	WYCISZKIEWICZ Patrycja	52.02