Shereen Sets Sights On Record Run In 400m Final To Check Into Paris Olympics
KUANTAN, June 14 (Bernama) -- National woman runner Shereen Samson Vallabouy goes into the 400-metre (m) final of the Malaysian Open Athletics Championships tomorrow knowing she has to clock 50.95 seconds (s) to seal her ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Perak-born runner posted a slow 55.44s en route to winning her semi-final heats at the Darul Makmur Stadium today and admitted that her mind was not on the timing.
But the final tomorrow is a whole new ball game because she knows she has two opportunities to meet the Paris Olympic qualifying mark of 50.95s - in Kuantan and the Kazakhstan Open in Almaty from June 23-24.
If she fails to post 50.95s in Kuantan or Almaty, she must be ranked in the top 48 in the world to qualify for the Paris Olympics. She is currently ranked 61st.
“I just ran calmly to qualify for the final tomorrow. (But) To improve my chances of qualifying for the Olympics, I need to break the national record (51.79s) in two tournaments (in Kuantan and Almaty),” she told reporters after today's women's 400m semi-finals.
Shereen currently holds the national record of 51.79s, which she set at the Music City Track Carnival in Tennessee on June 1.
-- BERNAMA
