George fails to qualify for 400m final

Guyana’s last hopes of medaling at this year’s IAAF World Championships were dashed yesterday when Winston George finished seventh in heat three of the men’s 200m event.

Winston George

George clocked 20.74s in the heat which was won by Ramil Guliyev of Turkey in 20.17s. Ameer Webb of the USA finished second in 20.22s while South African and 400m world record holder, Wayde Van Niekerk was the last qualifier in 20.28s.

Five days ago George, Guyana’s 400m record holder, placed eighth in heat five in a nine-man field in the quarter-mile event. He clocked a pedestrian 46.02s.

Troy Doris

Van Niekerk went on to earn the gold on Tuesday in 43.98s.

Meanwhile, Guyana’s other representative at the Championships, triple jumper, Troy Doris did not advance to the finals. The US based Doris was a finalist last year at the Olympic Games where he had placed seventh in Rio.