Olympics: Nakaayi's 800m hopes in repêchage

Former world champion fails to qualify automatically and will look to newly introduced repechage for a second chance

OLYMPICS | Halimah Nakaayi looked at the stadium clock with her face ashen and disbelief doodled allover her expression.

There was no mistake on the clock: She had come home in a time of 2:00.51 second. And there was no mistake either in her placement: fourth place.

The first three finishers qualify automatically for  the semifinals of the Women's 800m at the Paris Olympic Games and will run the repêchage to determine her fate.

World Athletics introduced repêchage rounds to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as a second chance for athletes to qualify for a semifinal, and there are repêchage rounds for men and women in the 100m/110m hurdles, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 800m and 1500m.

Each of those events is classically structured as round one, semi final, final. Now the repechage round is added after round one and is competed by all non-automatic qualifiers from the first heats.

Historically, the Olympics has had a ‘fastest loser’ system for qualification, meaning that after the automatic places were settled from the heats, the fastest times from the non-automatic qualifiers would go through.

The repechage round will be a factor for runners who don’t run their best race in the opening round, but may also be relevant if any runners fall – now they have another opportunity to race and progress.

Nakaayi is drawn in Heat 1 of the repechage alongside 2 1598 Brazil's Flavia Maria de Lima, Lithuania's Gabija Galvydyte, Italian Eloisa Coiro and Australian Abbey Caldwell.

Others are Switzerland's Audrey Werro and Spain's Lorena Martin.

The Ugandan world champion at the Doha 2019 now has her work cut out.

She had run one of her slowest races in nearly a year and she crossed the finish line with the air of having given up some 30 metres earlier.

Nakaayi, 29, crossed the line behind Switzerland's Rachel Pellaud who finished in 2:00.06 sec in a Heat won by Cuban Daily Cooper Gaspar in 1:58.88 seconds.

South Africa's Prudence Sekgodiso was qualified second in a time of 1:59.84 seconds.

Nakaayi's performance would have shocked no one in 2022 and in the early months of 2023 but the Ugandan middle distance ace had turned found the spikes that won her the world title in 2019.

Or so it appears. Just months ago, Nakaayi posted a national record 1:57.26 in London and coming to Paris, she looked like a serious contender for the title whose main contender in Athing Mu of USA is following on television having crashed at the USA trials.

Tomorrow (Saturday), Nakaayi will hope for better luck starting with lane placement. She was in the wide lane nine and looked done covering the ground to come on the inside into the first lap.

For the repechage she will start in lane six and grit her teeth, stub are spikes and leave everything on the purple tartans of Paris.