Whitby sprinter advances to 100m hurdles final
Aug 18, 2008 - 08:28 AM
Brad Kelly
BEIJING -- Priscilla Lopes-Schliep has waited her whole life to reach the Olympic finals in the 100m hurdles, so a few more hours won't be such a big deal.
The Whitby native advanced to the finals after finishing third in her heat on Monday night in a time of 12.68. The top four from each of the two heats earned a spot in Tuesday's final.
The catch there is that the final is a late one, scheduled for 10:30 p.m.
"You do get a little antsy," she said, still breathing hard after the race. "I just have to stay mentally focussed and not worry about the time of day it's going to happen."
In fact, she talked herself into liking the idea of a late evening start.
"I think it's going to be good. It will give me enough time to recover from today and yesterday. I'm excited to see what's going to happen."
Her time in today's race was slightly quicker than yesterday's preliminaries, when she crossed the finish line in a time of 12.75.
Today's time is still slightly off her personal best of 12.60, and she will need that and more in the final. Lolo Jones of the United States finished first in Lopes-Schliep's heat, breezing across the line in 12.43, beating her own world best mark this year of 12.45 set in July.
"You have to go out there thinking and believing you can do it, so I'm hoping to go out there and break a personal best time for me," said Lopes-Schliep of the mindset she will carry into the race.
There are some precious seconds to whittle away, noting that in today's race she floated over a couple of hurdles during the midway point of the race, needing to snap her lead leg down quicker.
"I have a few things to work on," admitted the 25-year-old. "My start I still feel could be faster, so hopefully it all comes together tomorrow.
"I put all the time into competing and working out. Now it's time for me to go out there and shine."
Four years ago at the Olympics in Athens, Lopes-Schliep finished 20th in a time of 13.08 and failed to advance out of the preliminaries.
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