Jamaica's Malik James-King, Qatar's Abderrahman Samba and British Virgin Islands' Kyron McMaster compete in the men's 400m hurdles semi-final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 7, 2024. (Photo by Jewel Samad / AFP)
Doha: Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba stayed in the hunt for a maiden Olympic medal after qualifying for Friday’s 400m hurdles final, clocking 48.20 secs at Stade de France in Paris on Wednesday.
With Kyron McMaster (48.15 secs) of the British Virgin Islands and Estonian Rasmus Magi (48.16 secs) advancing with a one-two finish in heat 2 during the semi-finals, Samba entered the eight-man final as one of the two fastest athletes failing to secure the direct qualification.
Seen in action during the opening heat at the semis, Norway’s Karsten Warholm – a Tokyo Olympic champion, three-time world champion and world record-holder – was overall fastest with a time of 46.67 secs followed by Frenchman Clement Ducos (47.85 secs), who ran in the same heat.
Featuring in the third and final heat, Tokyo silver medallist Rai Benjamin of the US was overall third with a comfortable run of 47.85 secs falling short of Ducos by fractions.
Samba secured an overall seventh position among runners from three heats during the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s middle-distance runner Abubaker Haydar Abdalla will take part in repechage round on Thursday, hoping to qualify for the men’s 800m semi-final.
During the heats on Wednesday, the two-time Asian champion failed to advance as he clocked 1:48.42 secs to finish seventh in his heat.-
