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Woodruff easily advances to semis in 400 hurdles Saturday at the Olympics...


TOKYO--Washington alum Gianna Woodruff (Paul Merca photo) helped open up day 2 of the Olympic track & field competition with a second place finish in her heat of the 400 hurdles Saturday morning at Olympic Stadium in the Shinjuku district of the Japanese capital.

Woodruff, the Panamanian national record holder in the event, was matched up against the current world record holder in the event in Sydney McLaughlin of Team USA.

McLaughlin won in a time of 54.65, while Woodruff cruised through the line in 55.49, just ahead of Sara Slott Petersen of Denmark's 55.52.

The top four finishers in each of the five preliminary heats advance to Monday's semifinal at 4:35 am Seattle time/8:35 pm Tokyo time.

Courtesy of NBC Olympics, here is video of the stretch run:

No Washington affiliated athletes will compete Saturday night.

Sunday night on the West Coast, Marta Pen Freitas of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts will go in the first round of the women's 1500 meters at 5:35 pm (9:35 am Monday in Tokyo).

Former Pullman resident Katie Nageotte, who is considered a legitimate medal contender, will jump in the qualifying round of the women's pole vault Monday morning at 3:20 am Seattle time/7:20 pm Tokyo time, while Woodruff goes in the semis of the women's 400 hurdles at 8:35 pm Tokyo time/4:35 am Seattle time.

Results and start lists are available through the home page of the World Athletics Tokyo Olympics microsite.

WINGER ELECTED CAPTAIN OF TEAM USATF...

Vancouver native Kara Winger was elected as the women's captain of Team USATF, while triple jumper Will Claye was selected by the team as its men's captain.

Winger is competing on her fourth US Olympic team. She had originally planned to retire after the 2021 World Athletics championship meet in Eugene, but with the Olympics postponed to this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she has pushed her retirement to 2022 and the world championship meet.

Here's the announcement from USA Track & Field:

NOTE: The Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, USA Track & Field, NBC Olympics & World Athletics contributed to this report.

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