– but Guyana’s 200m pair miss semis
Shamar Horatio was reinstated after initially being disqualified from the men’s 200 metres heats at the Commonwealth Games, but he and fellow Guyanese sprinter Jackson Clarke both missed out on semifinal places by narrow margins.
Horatio crossed the finish line second in Heat Five in 20.83 seconds before being disqualified for a lane infringement. Officials later reversed the decision and restored his result, but his time remained outside the qualifying positions.
The final athlete to advance recorded 20.79 seconds, leaving Horatio four-hundredths of a second short of a place in the semifinals.
Nigeria’s Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike dominated the heat in 20.31 seconds to qualify automatically, while Malta’s Graham Pellegrini placed third in 21.20 seconds. The race had a following wind of 2.4 metres per second.
Clarke came even closer to advancing after placing second in Heat Six in 20.80 seconds, missing the final qualifying mark by just one-hundredth of a second.
Running from lane eight, Clarke finished behind Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke, who won in 20.56 seconds. Togo’s Kossi Medard Nayo took third place in 21.00 seconds.
Despite finishing among the top two runners in their respective heats, both Guyanese athletes ended their campaigns in the opening round because only the heat winners and the fastest remaining competitors progressed.
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