In a major disappointment, India's sprint queen Dutee Chand's campaign at the Tokyo Olympics ended on Monday (August 2), after she failed to qualify for semi finals of 200 metres women’s race. Despite her season's best, the star sprinter was out of contention for the semis.
Dutee finished her race at her personal best this season with 23.85 seconds in heat-4 on track 2 at the Olympic Stadium. However, her personal best was still not enough for her to make it to the semis as she finished seventh in the race.
USA’s Gabrielle Thomas clocked 21.61 seconds to win the race, while the second spot was secured by Namibia’s Christine Mboma who clocked 22.67 seconds followed by Brazil’s Cristina Vitoria Rosa. Earlier, Dutee was also out of contention for the women’s 100 metre race after clocking 11.54 seconds which was much below her national record of 11.17 seconds.
She had finished seventh in heat five and 45th overall out of 54 competitors. It is pertinent to mention that Dutee had entered the Olympics race based on World Rankings after she failed to beat the qualification mark of 11.15 seconds. Nevertheless, Dutee's stunning achievements as a sprinter over the years is worth remembering.