Rain No Match For McLeod
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Four-time NCAA national champion Omar McLeod cruised into the 110-meter hurdle semifinals in front of a rain-saturated crowd as the heat one winner in 13.27 seconds in his Olympic debut.
Ignoring the less than ideal conditions, McLeod focused on the mission at hand, obtaining an automatic next-round qualification .23 seconds ahead of the first section runner-up.
McLeod heads into the semifinal as the only competitor with a season’s best sub-13 second performance to his credit. There will be three semifinal heats tomorrow at 6:40 p.m. CST. The top two runners from each heat plus the next two fastest times will advance to the final to be contested at 8:45 p.m.
The best performer of the day in his event, McLeod was the lone Razorback to make it out of today’s qualifying rounds.
Three spots shy of advancing out of the 200 prelims, veteran sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown will focus her attention on helping Team Jamaica earn a gold medal in the 4-x-100 relay.
First-time Olympic qualifiers Sparkle McKnight (400H) and Clive Pullen (triple jump) put forth solid efforts in their respective events but both came up short in their attempts to move on to next round competition.
Pole Vault U
Along with the last two rounds of the hurdle competition, Arkansas track and field will also have three Razorback women’s pole vaulters taking the runway in the qualifying round of the event at 7:45 a.m.
2015 Arkansas graduate Sandi Morris and current Hog Lexi Weeks will represent Team USA in section A while Tina Sutej (2012) will vault for Slovenia in section B.
Results – Day 10
W 200 Meters
Veronica Campbell-Brown (27) – 22.97
110 Hurdles
Omar McLeod (1) – 13.27Q
W 400 Hurdles
Sparkle McKnight (30) – 56.80
M Triple Jump
Clive Pullen (33) – 16.08m
Tuesday, Aug. 16
7:45 a.m. – Women’s Pole Vault (qualifying) – Sandi Morris & Lexi Weeks, USA and Tina Sutej, Slovenia (NBCSN)
6:40 p.m. – Men’s 110m Hurdles (semifinals) – Omar McLeod, Jamaica
8:45 p.m. – Men’s 110m Hurdles (final) – Omar McLeod, Jamaica (NBC)
For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.
