Clovis sprint star Jenna Prandini starts quest for 200 meters medal at Tokyo Olympics

Jenna Prandini blitzed an overmatched field in her first-round heat in the women’s 200 meters on Sunday at the Tokyo Olympics, advancing to the semifinals in an easy 22.56 seconds while easing up toward the end of the race.

The Clovis sprint star ran in the last of seven first-round heats and her personal and season’s best time of 21.89 set at the U.S. Olympic Trials stood out. None of the five other runners in the heat had run a 200 meters in less than 22 seconds, one had not run a heat in less than 23 seconds, and not surprisingly none were all that close at the end even with Prandini cruising past the finish line.

Americans Anavia Battle and Gabby Thomas also made it through to the semifinals. Battle finished second in Heat 3 in 22.54 seconds behind Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji, who ran a national record 22.26. Thomas finished second in Heat 4, breezing down the stretch in 22.20. Christine Mboma won the heat in 22.11.

The top five fastest to advance were Mboma, Thomas, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce from Jamaici (22.22 seconds in Heat 2), Kambundji and Marie-Josée Ta Lou from Ivory Coast (22.30 in Heat 1).

Prandini was the ninth-fastest qualifier while winning easily – Gina Bass from The Gambia was second in 22.74 and Riley Day from Australia was third in 22.94. The top three in each heat plus the three fastest advance.

The three semifinal heats in the women’s 200 meters are scheduled for 3:25 a.m. Monday from the National Stadium in Tokyo.

Prandini, who finished fourth in the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials and moved up when winner Sha’Carri Richardson lost her spot on the team after testing positive for marijuana, was coming off two fast heats in that event. She ran a personal best 11.11 in the first round and again in the semis, but finished fourth in her semifinal heat and missed out on the finals.

This story was originally published August 1, 2021 at 7:54 PM.