The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
‘Gutted’ Gemili sees medal slip from his hands in final
ATHLETICS: Sprinter says fourth place at World Championships is ‘heartbreaking’
Adam Gemili suffered more 200m heartbreak after coming fourth at the World Championships.
The 25-year-old, who celebrates his birthday on Sunday, clocked 20.03 seconds in last night’s final in Doha.
It was not enough to reach the podium as the United States’ Noah Lyles took the title in 19.83 secs with Canada’s Andre De Grasse second and Alex Quinonez of Ecuador in third.
It echoed Gemili’s Olympic nightmare when he missed out on a bronze medal by three-thousandths of a second in Rio in 2016.
Gemili told the BBC: “I am gutted. I had it. I lost my balance. I had nothing left at the end. All my form went out of the window.
“I ran like an amateur, I cannot believe it, I came so close, this was such a good chance.
“My body feels good, I ran well through the heats. I let it go. I am sorry, I feel like I have let down so many people. So many people sent me messages. The team know I have been plagued with injuries.
“To not break 20 seconds is so disappointing and heartbreaking. I had the medal and it slipped out of my hands.”
Earlier, Great Britain team-mate Dina Asher-Smith underlined her favourite tag by powering through to the 200m final at the World Championships.
The 23-year-old clocked 21.16 seconds – the fastest time of the night – to comfortably win her semi-final in Doha.
Asher-Smith, who holds the British record in the 200m after her European Championships victory in Berlin last year, is expected to take the title today. Major rivals, including defending champion Dafne Schippers and the Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou have pulled out injured.
New 100m world champion ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce is not running while Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare was disqualified in the heats and reigning Olympic champion Elaine Thompson also withdrew.
Asher-Smith is looking to add to the 100m silver she claimed on Sunday after setting a new British record of 10.83secs.
Beth Dobbin and Jodie Williams both failed to reach the final at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Meanwhile, European 400m champion Matthew Hudson-Smith, came off the track in a wheelchair after pulling up 20m into the first heat with a hamstring issue.
The 24-year-old has suffered hamstring injury problems this year but team-mate Rabah Yousif automatically reached the semi-finals in 45.40s.
Jess Turner and Meghan Beesley also reached today’s 400m hurdles semifinals, while Nick Miller qualified for the hammer final and Zak Seddon is through to the 3,000m steeplechase final.
The USA’s Donavan Brazier, who trains at the Nike Oregon Project run by Alberto Salazar, won the 800m title.