Ayhe crosses fifth in Germany
: Guardian : Rachael Thompson-King : 13.09.2021
T&T sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye was a fifth-place finisher in the women's 100 metres event at the ISTAF Berlin, a World Athletics continental tour silver level series at the Olympiastadion in Germany on Sunday.
She faced off against a field that included Jamaicans Natasha Morrison and Briana Williams, Great Britain's Daryll Neita, Germany's trio Alexandra Burghardt, Lilly Kaden and Jennifer Montag, Nadine Visser of the Netherlands and Belarusian Rani Rosius.
Ahye clocked 11.19 seconds in the dash which was won by Neita, who booked the final spot ahead of the T&T runner in the 100m final at the Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan, recently.
The British sprinter won in a time of 11.04 with Morrison a close second with 11.09 and her Jamaican compatriot Williams back in third in 11.16. German Burghardt was the other runner to finish ahead of Ahye in 11.17.
Filling the remaining spots were Visser (11.32), Rosius (11.42), Kaden (11.60) and Montag (11.61), respectively.
This was Ahye's fourth 100m race following the virus-delayed Olympic Games where she just missed out on reaching the medal race although having the eighth fastest time of the semifinals. She lined up in the second semifinal heat and clocked a season's best time of 11.00 seconds to place third.
Only the top two advance as automatic qualifiers from each of the three semifinal heats which meant that Ahye could have progressed as a non-automatic qualifier. However, Neita, who clocked the same time of 11.00 as Ahye, to place fourth in semifinal heat three, got the nod to compete in the medal race as her exact time across the line was 10.992 while Ahye crossed in 10.993.
On August 24, she placed fourth at the Hungarian Grand Prix Series at the Lantos Mihly Sportkzpont in Budapest, clocking 11.16. She returned to the track on August 31 in Italy sprinted to victory in a time of 11.20 in the Palio Citt della Quercia at the Stadio Quercia in Rovereto.
Five days later, Ahye raced in the Lotto Silesia Memoria_ Kamili Skolimowskiej at the Stadion _l_ski in Chorzw, Poland and crossed fourth in the same time as in the Berlin meet (11.19).
