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Athletes have celebrated the addition of the
repechage round in Paris and Crittenden may be its biggest
proponent after he moved tentatively through his first heat in
18.27 seconds on Sunday with an aggravated adductor muscle.
The strategy gave 29-year-old Crittenden, who finished second at
the U.S. trials, two days to address the issue and he looked to
be in good enough shape as he kissed the track after booking a
spot in Wednesday's semi-final in 13.42.
Spain's Asier Martinez finished four hundredths of a second
slower and also advanced.
"Everyone knows this is a dream, a dream come true," said
Crittenden, who nearly hung up his spikes as he struggled with
injuries three years ago.
"Now it is just a beautiful moment. I was so thankful to get
through this, I couldn’t do anything else but kiss the track."
Repechage - which translates from French to "fish out" or "to
rescue" - allows competitors who do not initially clinch spots
in the semis to race again with a chance of moving on.
Kazakhstan's David Yefremov was disqualified for a false start
in the second heat and officials had to reset the athletes at
the start on multiple occasions to groans from the crowd at the
Stade de France.
Fans' frustration turned to joy, however, as home hope Raphael
Mohamed (13.54) finished second behind Brazilian Rafael Pereira
(13.54), booking his spot in the semi-finals by one thousandth
of a second.
China's Qin Weibo (13.44) won the third heat with France's
Wilhem Belocian (13.45) also moving on.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris) [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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