Rio Olympics: Christine Ohuruogu reaches 400m semi-finals
Last Updated: 13/08/16 7:22pm
Christine Ohuruogu has booked her place in the semi-finals of the women's 400 metres at the Rio Olympics.
The 32-year-old, champion in Beijing in 2008 and silver medallist in London four years ago, looked smooth as she clocked 51.40 seconds to finish second in her heat to American Natasha Hastings.
Ohuruogu had to rely on the discretion of the selectors to earn her spot on the team after being troubled by illness earlier in the season, but she has a reputation for peaking at the right time.
British champion Emily Diamond clocked 51.76secs to finish fourth and go through as a fastest loser.
But Seren Bundy-Davies endured an Olympic debut to forget as she finished dead last in her heat in 53.63.
Etenesh Diro received the biggest roar the stadium has heard so far as she fought to qualify for the 3,000m steeplechase semi-finals, despite losing a shoe part way through the race.
The Ethiopian's right shoe came off with two and a half laps to go.
She tried to put it back on, but decided that was taking too long so tossed it aside. After a couple of steps she pulled her sock off and threw that to one side too.
She battled back through the field to cheers from the stands, which were far more populated than Friday's opening day, but her seventh-placed finish in 9:34.70 was not enough to go through.
Lennie Waite, along with Ireland's Sara Louise Treacy, Kerry O'Flaherty and Michelle Finn also all failed to qualify.
Meanwhile, Chritsoph Harting took gold in the men's discus, edging out Poland's Piotr Malachowski after a 68.37m final throw.
Harting's brother, Robert, took gold in the event at London 2012 and narrowly missed out on a place in Saturday's final.
