Report09 Mar 2014


Report: men's 60m hurdles semi-finals – Sopot 2014

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Pascal Martinot-Lagarde in the 60m hurdles at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships (© Getty Images)

Only one athlete enters the men’s 60m hurdles not having recorded a season’s best in the semifinals but it’s no surprise that the same athlete is the biggest favourite in the final: Pascal Martinot Lagarde.

The Frenchman is the world leader with 7.45 from Mondeville in February. The 22-year-old also has the much needed experience as he won the bronze medal at this event in Istanbul two years ago.

He looked calm in his semi-final, finishing an easy-looking second in 7.50, just 0.01 behind the US heat winner Omo Osaghae.

The 25-year-old Osaghae is competing in his first major international championship and his winning time of 7.49 was a personal best.

The final will be extremely tight as the eight qualifiers all had times within 0.1 in the semi-finals. France and Great Britain both have two athletes in the final, all of them looking for a medal.

France’s Garfield Darien won the second semi-final in 7.52, lowering his personal best from January by 0.03.

Great Britain’s Andy Pozzi equalled his personal best of 7.56 in both heats and semi-finals, following Darien home in the latter race, and is surely looking to do better than his fourth place finish in Istanbul while another Briton, William Sharman, ran a big personal best 7.53 in the semi-finals, 0.06 faster than the previous one of 7.59 in the heats here.

Germany also has two athletes in the final with Erik Balnuweit advancing to a worldwide final for the first time during career. The 25-year-old recorded a personal best 7.54 in his semi-final and will be joined later on Sunday by his compatriot Gregor Traber.

Traber, 21, set a 7.58 personal best in his heat. Jamaica’s Andrew Riley is also in the final after a 7.59 season’s best to finish fourth in the heat won by Darien.

Mirko Jalava for the IAAF