Knott melts in Tokyo heat

TOkyo—kristina Marie Knott missed her modest target and crashed out of the women’s 200 meters of athletics on Monday—no thanks to the Japanese summer heat—at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium.

Knott aimed for a sub-23 seconds run to better her Philippine record of 23.01m, but could only do 23.80 seconds to wind up in 37th place out of 41 runners.

The Tokyo heat got the better of the 25-year-old Knott in her group as she bowed out from the women’s 200-meter run in the Summer topped by American Jenna Prandini, who clocked 22.56.

“This is her first Olympic Games. She could have been battling a lot of things. It could have been the extreme heat. It could have been nerves,” Knott’s coach Roshaan Griffin said. “I’m not trying to pinpoint an excuse, or give a set of answers. It was an awful performance. It wasn’t what we expected. But people need to realize this is the world stage,”

Twenty four runners advanced to the semifinals slated later the day.

Knott was rushed to the Medical Station immediately after crossing the finish line, vomiting and nauseated due to heat stress coming from an extended exposure to the summer heat in the Japanese capital.

“She suffered heat exhaustion and has to stay at the stadium medical station for about an hour to rehydrate,” Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association Marketing and Communications Director Edward Kho said. “After crossing the finish line she was vomiting and she was dazed.”

“Thanks for the prayers of support. She is resting in her room now,” Kho added.

Namibia’s Christine Nboma clocked 22.11 for the heats’ best time. Other topnotchers of their respective heats were Côte d’ivoire’s Marie-josee Ta Lou (22.30), Jamaica’s Shelly-ann Fraser-pryce (22.22), Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji (22.26), Bahamas’ Anthonique Strachan (22.76) and Canada’s Crystal Emmanuel (22.74).