Featured image: (screenshot day 2 World Athletics Championships men’s 100m semi-finals).
Day two of the 2022 World Athletics Championships, in Eugene, Oregon, USA is over. Liberia competed in the men’s 110mH round one and the men’s 100m semi-finals. Spectators had high expectations for Team Liberia in both races. Here’s the recap.
First, Wellington Zaza took on the men’s 110mH. The top tier hurdler for Africa ran in heat 5, lane 2 and seemed to get off to a quick start. With the third fastest reaction time, Zaza sprinted out of the blocks. However, he clipped several hurdles as he ran to the finish line.
Zaza finished the race in sixth place and ran 13.81. This time was not enough to advance to the 110mH semi-finals. Zaza ended his World Championship debut in round one.
Next up, Emmanuel Matadi competed in the men’s 100m semi-finals. After running a sub-10 in round one spectators hoped Matadi would repeat his sub-10 time and finish top 8 to make it to the 100m finals. However, this was not the case.
Video credit: World Athletics (Matadi in 100m round one, running 9.99 in lane 8).
Matadi completed his semi-final race in 10.12, finishing fifth in his heat and 10th overall. This was not enough to get him to the finals, but still an impressive run. Ultimately, team USA swept the men’s 100m podium with Fred Kerley running 9.86 to win the championship title.
What to look forward to next
Liberia has two more athletes preparing to take the world stage. Next up is Liberia’s men’s 200m record holder, Joseph Fahnbulleh. He will compete in round one at the World Championships on Monday July 18. The event starts at 5:05 p.m. PT or 12:05a in Liberia.
Fahnbulleh is currently ranked seventh in the world and is expected to do very well at the Championships.
Image credit: World Athletics men’s 200m Rank 7/11/2022
The last athlete on Liberia’s roster is Ebony Morrison, who will compete in the women’s 100mH on July 23 at 11:20 a.m PT or 6:20 p.m. GMT.