T&T’s Leah Bertrand crossed fourth in a time of 11.80 seconds in the third and final semifinal heat in the women’s 100 metres dash on Wednesday at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya but did not advance to the final.

During the evening session on day one of the Championships at the Kasarani Stadium, the local sprinter, running out of lane seven, was quicker than her opening-round time of 11.88 but unfortunately, it was fast enough to move on as one of two non-automatic qualifiers. In this round, only the first two finishers and the next fastest two.

Semifinal heat three winner Nigerian Praise Ofoku with an 11.57-clocking and second-placed Eva Kubickova of the Czech Republic with a season’s best time of 11.64, were the top two athletes progressing to the medal race. Bahamian Camille Rutherford, who entered as one of the favourites, placed third with 11.72 and did not advance.

Earlier in the first round during the morning session, the 19-year-old Bertrand cruised into the semifinals after placing second behind Serbia’s Ivana Ilic, who won in 11.75 seconds. The top four finishers and the next two fastest progressed to the next round.

Namibia’s Beatrice Masilingi was the highlight of the opening round, advancing with the quickest qualifying time and a new national U-20 record of 11.20.

Hurdler Dillon Leacock will be next in action for T&T early Thursday morning, day two of the five-day championships.

He will line up in heat three of five in lane five in round one of the men’s 400m hurdles event at 2.39 am (T&T time) against Jorge Garcia of Spain, Dhahir Ali Alhamd (Iraq), Turkey’s Berke Akcam, who won gold in the European U-20 Championships last month in Estonia with 50.70, Dominik Skorjanc (Croatia), Dmitrijs Lasenko (Latvia) and Rostyslav Holubovych (Ukraine). The first four in each heat and the next four fastest advances to the semifinals carded for Saturday.

Leacock enters the one-lap hurdles with a personal and season’s best time of 52.29 achieved when the Millbrook High School student (North Carolina, USA) won gold at the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation (NSAF) Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Oregon, in July.

Leading up to the U-20 Championships, the 18-year-old raced the clock at the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) U-18, U-20 and U-23 Games as he was the lone participant in the men’s U-20 400m hurdles and finished in a time of 53.45 in San Jose, Costa Rica, also in July.

Last up for T&T is sprinter Shakeem McKay in the men’s 200m dash in the morning session on Friday. The heats will start at 4.40 am (T&T time) with semifinals carded for the evening session.