The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

DEVYNNE Charlton, not perturbed by running out of lane eight, powered to victory in a season's best of 7.95 seconds in her heat of the women's 60 metres hurdles on day two of the IAAF World Indoor Championships, to advance to the semifinal with the third fastest qualifying time.

Friday's competition in Birmingham, England, however, didn't go too well for Grand Bahamian Alonzo Russell in the men's 400m heats. In what was considered a quirky historic first, Russell and the other three competitors in the third of six heats were disqualified after the officials ruled they ran out of their lanes before the break in the first lap of the two lap race.

Before they were eliminated, Abdalelah Haroun of Qatar was removed from the race for a false start.

The race then restarted, with Russell finishing third as Grenada's Bralon Taplin, the race favourite, came first and Austris Karpinskis of Latvia was second, before the disqualifications.

"It was an unfortunate situation, not just for Alonzo, but for the whole heat," said Bahamas team manager Sandra Laing. "Alonzo, coach (Ronald) Cartwright and myself reviewed the tape and was satisfied that he did not commit any infraction. He was disappointed, but has put it behind him and is looking forward to the next meet."

Charlton, the Bahamian national indoor record holder, stormed back after trailing over the first of five flights of hurdles to eventually take control and easily reached the line with 7.95, just ahead of Germany's Cindy Rolender, who came through in 7.97.

With her performance, Charlton followed world record holder Kendra Harrison, the winner of heat four in a blistering 7.77, and Norway's Isabella Pederson, winner of heat two in 7.93.

"Devynne looked really good over the hurdles. I feel that once she executes well, she will be in the finals," Laing projected. "She stated that it's one of her goals here."

Charlton, who is ineligible to compete indoors for the Purdue Boilermakers but will be back to close out her career outdoors after the championships, will now run out of the middle of the pack in the first of three heats in the semifinals on Saturday in lane four. She will be sandwiched between Hanna Plotitsyna of the Ukraine in three and Oluwatobiloba Amusan of Nigeria in five.

With her national record standing at 7.95, Charlton will need to finish in one of the two spots in her heat or post one of the next two fastest losing times to go into the final later that night.

Also in action for Team Bahamas on Saturday will be sprinter Warren Fraser. He will contest the second of seven heats in lane eight as well. He goes in with a lifetime achievement of 6.54 and a 2018 time of 6.66 that he ran for third place when American Christian Coleman broke the world record with 6.34 in Birmingham, Alabama. Coleman will run out of lane six in the first heat.

The first three in each heat and the next three fastest losers will advance to the semifinal. The final will close out Saturday's competition.

"Warren competes tomorrow (Saturday) at 10:15 and should he advance to the next round, he will run the semis later in the evening," Laing said.

Team Bahamas had two competitors compete on the first day with Donald Thomas ending up in a three-way tie for sixth and Jamal Wilson matched with two others for ninth.

"I think we all anticipated a different outcome in the men's high jump, but as we all know, if you're off your rhythm in the high jump, it is very difficult to clear the heights," Laing said. "Both Donald and Jamal came into the meet very highly ranked, but it was just not meant to be."

While she was denied a request to contest the women's pentathlon and as a result opted not to compete in the meet in either the 60 or 400m, Shaunae Miller-Uibo is cheering on her husband Maicel Uibo from Estonia, who is currently sitting in third place the men's heptathlon after the first four events on Friday. He trails Kevin Mayer of France and Damian Warner going into the final three events on Saturday.