Eleni Artymata secured her qualification to the semifinals of the 400m, at the 32nd Olympic Games in Tokyo, on Tuesday morning (3/8/21).
Running from the 9th treadmill of the 6th series of the first round, the top Cypriot athlete in athletics, managed to finish in the time it took to enter the top 24 of this year's Olympics.
Artymata finished in 5th place in its series at 51.91, beating Ireland's Phil Healy, who waited anxiously at 51.98! It was the fastest series of all, with the winner being Marilyn Paulino from the Dominican Republic with 50.06. This is the third time that our champion passes to the second round, in her fourth appearance at the Olympics, after Beijing (2008) and London (2012), and the previous two times in the 200m.
On a very difficult morning at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, after 08:30 in the morning there was heavy rain, which stopped an hour and a half later, with the humidity soaring (over 80%) and the sun It is very hot, the athletes arrived one after the other exhausted at the finish line and most of them asked for ice and time to rest. The same with Eleni Artymata, she felt suffocating in her finish, but happy that she will run on Wednesday (4/8) in the semifinals.
"The conditions were very difficult and unbearable. During the heavy rain we did our warm-up and I went to put on overalls and I burned. The humidity soared and the heat was very intense. From conditions it was one of my most difficult at the Olympics. As for my race, I think I did well for the morning. I'm happy with the way I ran. The 9th lane did not affect me and fortunately I managed to finish exactly at the right time, to move on to the next lap. I was relieved to see 51.91, which I can do many times over… But this time it was for good! It was my first race in a month and I wanted to see how my body would react. I am generally happy, we will see the race with my coach (s.s. Antonis Giannoulakis), we will analyze it and we will prepare for tomorrow. "Tomorrow I believe that I will be more prepared, more relaxed and I hope the conditions are better and they will help me run even faster.", said in the mixed zone Eleni Artymata, who, answering a question from an Italian colleague, said that "She is proud and honored to represent Cyprus for the 4th time at the Olympics (record number for women) and feels as strongly as she did the first time in Beijing."
Wednesday night at 19:30 p.m. (13:30 p.m.)
In a better time for Cyprus, but of course for the same, Eleni Artymata will compete on Wednesday (4/8/21) night in the semifinals. Her main goal is to be faster than herself and whatever comes out. After all, being in the top 24 in the world at the Olympics is a huge success, especially in a race like the 400m. So, on Wednesday, at 19:30 (one and a half at noon in Cyprus), our champion will run in the 1st semifinal series from the 3rd treadmill. From each series, the first two and the two best times qualify for the final on Friday (6/8/21). Eleni Artymata's series is as follows:
FIRST SEMI-FINAL SERIES 400M. WOMEN (4/8, 19:30, 13:30)
ATHLETES (COUNTRY) At.Ep. Φ.Επ. Χρ.Πρ. P.K.
2. Ama Pippi (Great Britain) 51.08 51.08 51.17 46
3. Eleni Artymata (CYPRUS) 51.14 51.79 51.91 50
4. Roxana Gomes (Cuba) 50.76 50.76 50.76 26
5. Marilydi Paulino (Dominican Republic) 49.99 49.99 50.06 26
6. Cunera Hayes (USA) 49.72 49.78 51.07 22
7. Kadice McLeod (Jamaica) 49.91 49.91 51.09 51
8. Landa Vodrova (Czech Republic) 51.14 51.14 51.14 33
9. Susan Valli (Austria) 51.99 51.99 52.19 62
* Α.Π.Ε.: Individual Performance, Φ.Π .: This Year's Performance, Χρ.Πρ .: Qualifying Time from the first round, PK: Position in the World Ranking.
OF SILVER SILVER (envoy of EAK)