Pan Am Games: Zelinka starts strong, women qualify for 4x400m final

Following new Canadian and Pan Am record-holder Damian Warner, who last night won the decathlon, Jessica Zelinka kicked off the women’s heptathlon with a blistering 13.12 in the 100m hurdles Friday morning, a time good enough to score 1106 and a nearly 100-point lead after one event. She then jumped 1.65m in the high jump to finish the morning with a score of 1901, leaving her in fourth after the morning session.

Jillian Drouin, the second Canadian in the heptathlon, false started the 100m hurdles and scored zero for that event, essentially removing her from contention.

Canada’s Sekou Kaba ran 13.57 in the first heat of the men’s 110m hurdles to finish third, a time which looked at first as though it would qualify him for the final until compatriot Johnathan Cabral ran 13.55 in the third heat, one lane beside the reigning world champion David Oliver, who easily cruised to a 13.15. Cabral grabbed the last spot in the final, bumping Kaba to the first of those out.

In the finals, a false start and ensuring confusion saw American David Oliver run the entire race in 13.18, a strong time, before realizing the race had been called back. The event was then delayed 30 minutes for Oliver and other athletes who had run most of the event to recover before being held a second time.

“I don’t worry about it,” said Oliver about the delay and rerun, noting it was the first time in his long and decorated career that had happened to him, “Just tell me what time I need to be ready to go again and I’ll be ready to rock.”

In the second running, Oliver again won, racing to an even quicker 13.07, a new Pan Am Games record. Canadian Johnathan Cabral hit the final hurdle, finishing eighth in 14.07.

“At 33 years of age I had turned down coming to the Pan American Games a couple times in the past and I was going to take advantage of it this time,” said Oliver. “I targeted the Games record as a goal I wanted to achieve here and I was glad I was able to achieve that goal.”

The Canadian women’s 4x400m relay team of Taylor Sharpe, Audrey Jean-Babtiste, Sage Watson and Sarah Wells qualified for tomorrow’s final by finishing third in their heats and running 3:30.61. The men’s team of Philip Osei, Daniel Harper, Brandon McBride and Nathan George ran 3:05.40 to finish fifth in their heat. They will not advance to the finals.

Friday’s evening session will showcase the men’s 1,500m final. Canadians Charles Philibert-Thiboutot and Nate Brannen are set to compete. The 1,500m, originally scheduled to be run with heats and finals, was changed to a straight final when there were only 14 runners registered to race.

The other middle-distance race on the schedule is the women’s 3,000m steeplechase. Erin Teschuk and Geneviève Lalonde will attempt to repeat the Canadian gold-silver finish produced by the men on Tuesday. The two are seeded third and fourth.

The evening session will also see Andre De Grasse chase his second gold of the Games in the men’s 200m while Kimberly Hyacinthe will race the women’s 200m final. Men’s and women’s 4x100m heats will finish the evening.