ATHLETICS: Triple Olympian Dani Samuels will compete in her third consecutive women’s discus Olympic final after overcoming atrocious conditions to post an automatic qualifier at the Olympic Stadium.
The 17-time Australian national champion produced a top throw of 64.46m to qualify for the final as wind and heavy rain played havoc with the opening round of the competition.
Samuels was one of 10 competitors to foul in the first round before competition was temporarily suspended.
A further eight competitors fouled again in round two but Samuels held her nerve to seal her place in the final with a strong final effort.
“The first round I thought I’ve got to go for this because they’re not delaying it, they’re not stopping the comp,” Samuels said.
“I thought I had it but it got wet halfway through and just slipped out.
“Second one, I was just trying to regather my footing and it was too slow and then my last one I just had to go for it, get back that aggression I usually throw with and try and nail it smack bang in the centre, and it was great.”
It was a superb performance by Samuels, who landed the second furthest throw in her group behind one of the medal favourites Sandra Perkovic of Croatia (64.81).
Now based on the Gold Coast, the former Westfield Sports High student has a great opportunity to improve on her two previous finals appearances, where she finished 11th in at the 2012 London Games and ninth in the 2008 Beijing Games.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, Australia’s Lauren Wells finished fourth in her heat but posted a time fast enough to qualify for tomorrow night’s semi-finals.
In lane 1, Wells overcame the wet conditions to do what was needed, running 56.26, and now has the chance to improve on her semi-final performance at the London 2012 Games.
“It was a tough wait, I didn’t want to miss the semi-finals by 0.02, but that’s what I made it through in London by,” said Wells.
“It was an odd one. I thought I executed my race really well, I thought it would have been faster than that, but the thing is the job’s done and I’ve got another race to think about tomorrow night.
“I know I’ve got a lot to work on ahead of tomorrow night but I’m just going to give it everything I’ve got and I know there’s more there.”
David Taylor
olympics.com.au
