Matthias Schrader

T&T’s Portious Warren was an 11th place finisher in the women’s shot put event at the Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan on Saturday night (T&T time).

At the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, the local field athlete’s furthest throw, her third and final, measured 18.23 metres not enough to earn the right to throw for a medal among the top eight finalists.

I just want to take this moment to say thanks to everyone who has genuinely supported me on this journey. And I ask that you continue to because this isn’t the end.ÊAnd know that your support goes a long way and adds fuel to my fire, said the Toco-born Warren on social media yesterday following her debut Olympic performance.

Paris 2024 I’m coming, but I got a few stops to make before then. So join me on my journey cause it’s going to be a great one.

The former student of the University of Alabama student andÊCentral Arizona College with fiery red hair opened with an 18.01-effort and matched that distance in the second round.

Warren, 25, the second local shot putter to make an Olympics following in the footsteps of four-time Olympian Cleopatra Borel, was unable to match her personal best of 18.75m which she heaved on Friday to be the fifth-best thrower in Group A to advance out of the qualification round into the 12-athlete final.

The unreachable Lijiao Gong of China took the gold medal, launching a personal best of 20.58. The Chinese thrower led throughout the entire event, opening with a 19.95-effort, fouled the second then returned with a 19.98 third-round throw and moved on to the three-round medal competition. In the fourth round, she threw the object 19.80m then 20.53m in the fifth, and her personal best in the sixth and final round.

The charismatic American Raven Saunders, sporting her purple and green coloured low-cut hairstyle and the ‘Incredible Hulk’ face race mask, copped the silver medal with 19.79 achieved in the fifth round and did a ‘twerk’ dance in celebration.

Two-time Olympic champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand bagged the bronze with 19.62m on her third effort. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, and three-time Commonwealth Games winner.

Gittens leaps into the long jump final

Across the field, another Olympic debutant, multi-sport athlete Tyra Gittens, was leaping her way into the women’s long jump final.

Competing in Group A of the qualification round, Gittens, 23, ended in fifth spot with a 6.72m-leap in the second round and advanced as one of the best performers, having not reached the qualifying mark of 6.75m.

The Texas A&M student’s first-round attempt measured 6.12m and 6.34m in the third round, competing in a group that had eight participants reach the final.

The top qualifiers were Americans Brittney Reese and Tara Davis in first and second place, with 6.86m and 6.85m efforts, respectively while the other automatic qualifiers from group A were Sweden’s Khaddi Sagnia (6.86m) and Abigail Irozuru of Great Britain with a season’s best 6.75m.

Sixth-place Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk of Ukraine (6.71m), Jazmin Sawyers of Great Britain (6.62m) and Australian Brooke Stratton (6.60m) also progressed as best performers along with Gittens.

They will be joined by Group B’s top finishers in Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic, who advanced with a huge season’s best 7.00m, Germany’s Malaika Mihambo with a season-best 6.95m, IVB’s Chantel Malone (6.82) and Nigerian Ese Brume (6.76) in Monday’s final from 9.50 pm (T&T time).

All quarter-milers Lendore, Cedenio, St Hillaire into semis

Over on the track, T&T had more to celebrate with its three quarter-milers progressing to the semifinals in the men’s 400m event.

Deon Lendore and Machel Cedenio, both members of the men’s 4×400 2019 IAAF World Relays champion team, were among the automatic qualifiers moving on to the semifinal round while Dwight St Hillaire went through as one of the fastest losers in their respective heats on Saturday night.

Lendore, running out of lane three in heat five, cruised over the line in second place in a time of 45.14, behind winner Bahamian Steven Gardiner (45.05) and comfortably ahead of Jochem Dobber (The Netherlands) with 45.54.

Machel Cedenio was a third-place finisher in heat six. Competing in lane eight, he finished in 45.56, following to the line Dutch quarter-miler Liemarvin Bonevacia (44.95) and USA’s Michael Norman (45.35).

Earlier, St Hillaire, who is another T&T athlete making his debut at the Olympics, was the first to feature in the one-lap event in heat three. Running out of lane six, the local quarter-miler was a fourth-place finisher with 45.41, behind USA’s Michael Cherry (44.82), Barbados’ Jonathan Jones (45.04) and Jamaican Christopher Taylor (45.20).

St Hillaire, however, was among the next six fastest finishers to progress to Monday’s semifinal round. His time placed him 17th among the 24 qualifiers.

This morning (On Monday), Lendore will take to the track first in the semifinal one in lane seven from 7.05 am against Bonevacia, Grenada’s Kirani James, Luka Janezic (Slovakia), Davide Re (Italy), Anthony Zambrano (Colombia), Jonathan Sacoor (Belgium) and Ricky Petrucciani (Switzerland).

Cedenio follows in semifinal two in lane nine at 7.13 am versus, Cherry, Taylor, Leungo Scotch (Botswana), Alonzo Russell (Bahamas), Mazen Al Yassin (Saudi Arabia) and Kevin Borlee (Belgium).

Next up in the third semifinal at 7.21 am will be St Hillaire in lane two against Gardiner, Jones, Dobber, Norman, Demish Gaye (Jamaica), Isaac Makwala (Botswana) and reigning 400m Olympic champion Wayde Van Niekerk (South Africa).

Richards, Greaux tackle the half-lap sprint

Jereem “The Dream” Richards and Kyle Greaux will also be on the track on Monday, racing in the men’s 200m. The first of seven heats start at 10.05 pm.

The 27-year-old Richards, the 2018 Commonwealth men’s 200m champion enters the half-lap event with a season’s best 20.13 while Greaux, 33, comes in with a season-best 20.70 and personal best of 19.97 seconds.

Both will be aimingÊto reach the semifinals which are set for Tuesday morning from 7.50 amÊ(T&T time).