JOIN USIndia began their campaign in the World Athletics Championships on a disappointing note with sprinter Dutee Chand and quartermiler Muhammed Anas crashing out in the first round here on Saturday.
Swapna Barman figured among the bottom heap in the seven-event heptathlon.
Dutee finished sixth in heat five of the women’s 100M first round after clocking a pathetic 12.07seconds, one of her worst performances.
The Odisha girl’s performance was well below her season’s best of 11.30 seconds. She finished 38th overall among 47 athletes. Dutee, who ran at lane six, said she got nervous due to the disqualification of German athlete Tatjana Pinto, who was at the adjacent lane number five, for a false start.
“The girl next to me was disqualified due to a false start and I got nervous. I could not come out of the blocks as fast as I would have wanted, so the timing was poor. The temperature was also cold. I had run with better timings in India because at this time the temperature there (in India) is more suited. I need a bit of warm temperature,” she said after her race.
Gina Luckenkemper of Germany topped the field leading into the semifinals with 10.95 seconds while Marie-Josee Talou and Murielle Ahoure, both from Ivory Coast, followed with 11.00 and 11.04. Reigning Olympic champion Elaine Thompson of Jamaica also went into the semifinals with a timing of 11.05 secs.
In the men’s 400M first round, Anas, who had clocked a national record of 45.32 in May, timed 45.98 secs to finish fourth in his heat. He finished overall 33rd among the 52 competitors.
Botswana’s medal contender Isaac Makwala led the semifinal qualifiers with a time of 44.55 seconds while reigning Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa also eased through.
The third Indian in the fray, Swapna Barman, was 27th in heptathlon after two events. She clocked 14.14 seconds in 100M hurdles and then performed poorly in her strongest event, the high jump, managing only 1.71 against a personal best of 1.87. She has a total of 1826 points.