TOKYO update

In today's evening session in the Tokyo Olympic stadium three Woodford athletes exited at the semi-final stage. Closest to making the final was Dan Rowden in the 800m who Saturday placed 2nd in his heat with 1m45.73 secs to progress to the semi. With three semi-finals and the first two in each plus the two fastest losers progressing to the final, Dan finished 5th with a season's best of 1m 44.35 secs and with the first four from his heat making the final Dan was the third fastest loser across the three heats. Dan missed a final place by 0.05 secs and after being slightly baulked with 100m to go he finished the fastest but could not find a way through a crowded field. Sisters Tiffany Porter and Cindy Sember both also exited at the semi-final stage. Tiffany was 5th in her semi with 12.86 secs (0.0) having qualified from her heat with 12.85 secs (+1.2). Cindy who had finished 4th in the final in Rio was 7th in her semi which was very fast and won in an Olympic record and she  recorded 12.76 secs (+0.7) significantly faster than her heat where she qualified as a fastest loser with 13.00 (+1.0). On Friday Phil Norman placed 14th in his heat of the 3000m s/ch recording 8m46.57 secs some way off his early season form where he recorded 8m20.12 secs to earn his Olympic place.