UW alum Gianna Woodruff finishes fifth in finals of 400 hurdles at world champs...
TOKYO--Washington alum Gianna Woodruff's (Paul Merca photo) bid for a podium spot fell just short, as the 2015 grad finished fifth in her second career finals competition in the women's 400 meter hurdles to end day seven of the World Athletics Championships--Tokyo 2025 on a pleasant Friday night devoid of the heat and humidity of the previous days of competition.
Starting in lane 8, Woodruff, who had the second fastest time in the semifinal round with her 52.66 Panamanian and South American area record, looked to duplicate that performance in the finals.
Over the first 100 meters, she found herself in fifth place, then edged her way back to fourth at the 200 meter mark.
With 100 meters and two hurdles to go, Woodruff was still in fifth place, but couldn't make up any ground, holding on to fifth in a time of 53.34.
Femke Bol of the Netherlands won with a world leading time of 51.54, followed by Jasmine Jones of the USA win 52.08, and Emma Zapletalova of the Slovak Republic in third in a national record 53.00.
In the only other event involving an athlete with Washington ties, 2023 UW alum Brian Fay of Ireland (Paul Merca photo) finished 17th in his heat of the men's 5000 meters.
Fay finished in a time of 13:31.12, nearly 17 seconds away from the eighth and final spot into the finals.
In finals contested Friday night, Pedro Pichardo of Portugal won the men's triple jump with a bound of 58-9.25 (17.91m).
USC alum Rai Benjamin of Team USATF won the men's 400 hurdles in a season best 46.52.
Noah Lyles of the USA won the men's 200 in 19.52 over compatriot Kenny Bednarek's season best 19.58.
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the USA won the women's 200 in a world leading time of 21.68.
On Saturday, the final two athletes with Washington ties may be pulled into action.
Washington State alum Jasneet Nijjar of Canada, is on her country's relay pool for the women's 4 x 400 relay a week after running in the first round of the mixed 4 x 400 relay.
The Canadian squad runs at 8:11 pm local time/4:11 am Pacific time in the second of two qualifying heats, with the top 3 teams in each heat advancing to Sunday's final plus two time qualifiers.
Louie Hinchliffe, the 2024 NCAA 100 meter champion at Houston, who began his career at Washington State, is scheduled to run in the first round of the 4 x 100 meter relay for Great Britain, where he's run on the second leg.
The Brits run in the second of two semifinal heats at 8:34 pm local time/4:34 am Pacific time.
The Brits go into this meet as the reigning Olympic bronze medalist team from Paris, and the fourth place team from the last world championships two years ago in Budapest.
The composition of all relay teams are usually not released until shortly before the start of the race.
NOTE: World Athletics contributed to this report.
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