Leah Bertrand exited at the semi-final stage in the World Athletics U20 Championship Women’s 100 metres dash in Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday.

The Trinidad and Tobago sprinter finished fourth in the third semi-final heat in 11.80 seconds. The clocking was not fast enough to earn her a championship race lane on time. Bertrand was 15th fastest overall in the field of 24 semi-finalists.

Jamaican Tina Clayton won the first semi-final heat in 11.34 seconds to lead all qualifiers into the final. Namibia’s Beatrice Masilingi topped the second semi in 11.35. And Nigeria’s Praise Ofoku was first home in the third semi in 11.57.

In the opening round, Bertrand finished second in heat five in 11.88 to secure automatic qualification for the semis.

The women’s 100m final is scheduled for 10:30 this morning (T&T time).

At 2.39 a.m., Dillon Leacock competes in the third of five Men’s 400m hurdles first round heats. The T&T athlete has been drawn in lane five, alongside Turkey’s Berke Akcam, in four.

Akcam has a personal best of 49.78 seconds, and is tipped for gold at the World Under-20 Championships. The reigning European Under-20 champion should have no problems negotiating his first round heat and progressing to the semis.

Leacock is expected to battle with Latvia’s Dmitrijs Lasenko for the fourth automatic qualifying spot up for grabs in heat three. Leacock has a personal best (PB) of 52.29 seconds, while Lasenko’s fastest clocking is 52.30. Based on PBs, the top three spots should go to Akcam, Croatia’s Dominik Skorjanc (51.25) and Spaniard Jorge Garcia (51.30).

T&T’s Shakeem McKay faces the starter tomorrow morning in the Men’s 200m preliminaries.