Mujinga Kambundji fulfills her compulsory task in the preliminary heats over 100 m with ease. The Bernese sprinter qualified in 11.05 seconds as the twelfth fastest for the semi-finals on Saturday evening.
Kambundji showed a technically good and controlled run in her first outing in Paris. Only Gina Bass Bittaye from Gambia was four hundredths faster in this preliminary heat.
However, to advance to the Olympic final (6th place) as in Tokyo in 2021 and the World Championship final (5th place) in Eugene in 2022, the 32-year-old will need to improve. The top 8 in the 100m heats in Paris stayed under eleven seconds. The fastest of the 72 starters was Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith from the Ivory Coast in 10.87 ahead of Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.92).
Salomé Kora and Géraldine Frey made it to the final of the preliminary heats. Both failed to seize the opportunity in Paris. The 26-year-old Frey from Zug completed the 100 m in 11.34, which was only good enough for 5th place in her preliminary heat. She was eight hundredths short of third place and a place in the semi-finals. Kora from St. Gallen was also eight hundredths too slow to avoid elimination, finishing fourth in 11.35, a long way off her personal best.
SDA
