By Helen Reid
PARIS (Reuters) – Defending champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico blazed through the 100-metre hurdles semi-final on Friday, though the United States’ Alaysha Johnson looked to be a threat with the fastest time of the morning.
Camacho-Quinn won her heat in 12.35 seconds with American Masai Russell, who has the world’s fastest time this year, right behind her.
The U.S. had a strong showing with both Johnson (12.34) and Grace Stark (12.39) winning their heats to make three going through to the final, with three of the four fastest times.
“I honestly felt like this series wasn’t going to be as competitive as the series we had at USA so I just kept telling myself, the hard part is really over, now it’s just about being secure in yourself and executing,” Johnson said.
The Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton, who finished fourth at world championships last year, looked strong, leaving the field behind to finish second in her heat behind Stark.
“The race played out pretty much how I thought it would, that I would have a pretty good start and everybody else would be chasing me, so the plan was just to stay calm and let the race come to me and not try to press it,” Charlton said.
The Netherlands’ Nadine Visser followed Johnson well clear of the challengers to book her place in the final at her third Olympics.
World record holder Tobi Amusan surprisingly failed to automatically qualify and was initially among the fastest losers but her spot was denied as Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent and France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela clocked better times.
Samba-Mayela, powered to a 12.52 finish by the Stade de France crowd’s roars, is a strong medal contender for the hosts, having run the third-fastest time of the year globally in June.
The 23-year-old had been forced to pull out of the event in Tokyo due to a hamstring injury during warm-up.
The first two in each heat, and the next two fastest, advanced to the final set for Saturday at 7:35 p.m. (1735 GMT).
(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Alison Williams)
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